One of the terrorists was killed and at least nine people were wounded in the strike, which completely destroyed the Toyota sedan the terrorists were riding in. The strike took place in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.
"The IDF carried out an aerial attack in the Gaza City against a vehicle carrying senior Hamas terrorists who are part of the organization's rocket production division and who were involved in recent rocket attacks on Sderot," an IDF statement shortly after the strike declared.
The strike took place just a few hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz announced that the IDF had been authorized to take increased action against those launching Kassam missiles. Targeted strikes from the air have been going on for months, however.
Earlier Sunday, the IDF suspended a planned strike on the home of Popular Resistance Committee Kassam rocket commander Mohammed al-Baroud after hundreds of local Arabs crowded around the northern Gaza home, daring the IDF to bomb it.
Eight Kassam rockets were fired at the city of Sderot Sunday, wounding a taxi driver from Be’er Sheva seriously and lightly wounding two others. The wounded were brought to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the missile attacks.
Armed Fatah Militia Ready For Import From Jordan
A senior Fatah official in Jordan announced Sunday that a Fatah militia was making final preparation to be dispatched to Gaza, according to Israel Radio.
The militia is made up of more than 1,500 armed men loyal to Yassir Arafat’s successor, PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
Abbas requested permission to import the militia in October, in an effort to militarily compete with the ideological and increasingly powerful Hamas Islamist movement, which controls the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli officials are reluctant to approve the militia’s entry, as the arming and training of the PA security forces under the Oslo Accords resulted in those same weapons being used in scores of terror attacks and gunfights with the IDF.