Mideast Conflict: Israeli Warplanes Strike Gaza Targets In Response To Rocket Fire

JERUSALEM — Israeli warplanes struck targets early Wednesday in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire toward southern Israel, the first air strikes launched by Israel since an informal cease-fire ended eight days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas-ruled Gaza.
An Israeli military statement issued Wednesday said its planes targeted "two extensive terror sites" with "accurate hits." Palestinian officials said no one was hurt in the air strikes and no damage was reported in northern Gaza.
The air raids followed the third successful rocket attack on Israel since the November cease-fire. The military reported that Gaza militants on Tuesday fired at least one rocket toward southern Israel. No one was hurt and no damage was caused. The attack was the first since rockets were fired during President Barack Obama's visit to Israel two weeks ago.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire. The Israeli military says it holds Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers responsible for any attack against the Jewish state.
Rocket fire has been rare since an informal cease-fire was reached last November. During eight days of violence in November, the Israeli military said 1,500 rockets were fired at Israel, including the first from Gaza to strike the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas. The rocket attacks killed six Israelis and wounded dozens. Israeli airstrikes killed 169 Palestinians, many of them militants, and caused considerable damage.
Earlier Tuesday, Palestinian prisoners rioted following news of a fellow inmate's death of cancer, and Israeli prison guards fired tear gas to quell the disturbances, an Israeli official said.
Palestinian officials said Israel was responsible for the death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, charging medical negligence. The 64-year-old was serving a life sentence for his role in a foiled attempt to bomb a busy cafe in Jerusalem in 2002.
As news of Abu Hamdiyeh's death spread, Palestinian prisoners in several jails began banging on their cell doors and hurling objects. Later, protests spread to Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank.
Prisons Authority spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said three prisoners and six guards were evacuated for medical treatment after inhaling tear gas.
She said Abu Hamdiyeh was treated well by Israeli specialists and died in a hospital in Beersheba.
Weizman said the prison service asked the parole board for the prisoner's early release after his cancer was diagnosed as terminal last week, but the appeal was still being processed at the time of his death.
Palestinian prisoner affairs minister Issa Karakeh blamed Israel. "This is a serious, ugly crime committed against the prisoner Maysara due to medical negligence and reluctance to release him," Karakeh said.
In Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was working to free Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
"We were surprised with the death of our brother prisoner," Abbas said. "We attempted to have him released and take him for treatment, but the Israeli government refused to release him, which led to his death."
Later Tuesday, protests spread to the West Bank city of Hebron, where protesters threw firebombs and rocks at Israeli soldiers. The troops responded with tear gas and other riot dispersal means, the military said.
Tensions are high in Israeli lockups, where thousands of Palestinian security prisoners are being held. Some have held hunger strikes and Palestinians have held large protests demanding their release.
After decades of conflict with Israel, the issue of prisoners is emotionally charged in Palestinian society. Inmates are highly esteemed regardless of the reasons for their incarceration, which range from mass murder to throwing rocks.

Israel Fires Missile Into Syria In Response To Golan Heights Border Fire

JERUSALEM -- Israel's army said it fired a guided missile into Syria on Sunday, destroying a military post after gunfire flew across the border and struck an Israeli vehicle.

The shooting along the frontier in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was one of the most serious incidents between the countries since Syria's civil war erupted two years ago. Israel has carefully watched the violence from the sidelines, but has returned fire on several occasions.

It was not immediately clear whether the Syrian troops had fired into the Golan intentionally or whether the vehicle had been hit by stray gunfire. In either case, Israel said it held Syrian President Bashar Assad's government responsible.

"The Syrian regime is responsible for every breach of sovereignty. We will not allow the Syrian army or any other groups to violate Israel's sovereignty in any way," Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said.       

 

Israel's military said soldiers were on routine patrol in the Golan when they were fired upon early Sunday, hours after a military vehicle driving along the frontier between the two countries was hit and lightly damaged Saturday evening. It said Israel responded early Sunday with a Tamuz guided missile.

"We were forced to act in a targeted way and to attack and destroy the post from which this (gunfire) took place," Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said Sunday. "We will continue to operate in the Golan Heights with reason and caution, but where determination and assertive and offensive action is needed, that will also take place."

Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed the territory in a move that has not been internationally recognized.

Since Syria's civil war broke out in March 2011, errant mortar shells or machine gun fire have landed in the Golan a number of times. Israel believes most of the cases have been accidental, but it has responded on several occasions.

Israel is worried that the embattled Assad regime may try to draw the Jewish state into the fighting in an attempt to divert attention from the civil war. Gantz has also warned that Syrian rebels, who have captured a number of villages on the Syrian side of the Golan, could turn their attention to Israel if they defeat Assad.

Sunday's violence comes days after Israel restored ties with Turkey. Relations between the countries, once close allies, had steadily deteriorated following a 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Turkish ship trying to break Israel's blockade on Gaza. Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists in the operation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that concerns over the crisis in Syria, which borders both Israel and Turkey, led to the reconciliation.
He said Israel and Turkey would need to communicate over the worsening situation, noting fears that Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons could reach militant groups bordering the two countries.
Israel has expressed concern that Syria's chemical arsenal could fall into the hands of militants like Lebanon's Hezbollah, an Assad ally, or Islamic extremists fighting among the rebels battling Assad.
Earlier this year, the U.S. said Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria on a convoy believed to be transporting sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to Hezbollah. Israel has all but admitted to carrying out the airstrike, but never formally confirmed it.