Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attacks
The flurry of violence raised fears of a repeat of the tough combat in the territory two years ago.
JERUSALEM - Israel on Tuesday launched heavy air strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks, raising the prospect of a new round of bloody fighting after a two-year lull.
The military said the Israeli strikes hit seven different targets in Gaza. Palestinian officials said eight militants were wounded. Then the Palestinians fired another rocket at southern Israel, lightly wounding a 16-year-old girl.
The violence followed the deaths of five Gaza militants Saturday in the deadliest Israeli assault on the coastal strip in months.
Two years ago, incessant rocket barrages from Gaza led Israel to launch a punishing three-week invasion that left 1,400 Palestinians dead.
In another sign of escalation, the Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, told a parliamentary panel that Tuesday's strikes were the first to target a facility of Gaza's ruling Hamas group since the invasion. The military said the attacks were in response to the firing of 13 rockets and mortars at Israel over the past week.
Until recently, militant attacks from Gaza had subsided dramatically since Israel's offensive in late 2008.
Although Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, has limited attacks on Israel since then, Israel holds the group responsible for all attacks from the territory. A number of smaller militant groups have continued to fire rockets and mortars.
The military said Tuesday's air strikes targeted a weapons factory and smuggling tunnels. It said some of the tunnels were designed to allow militants to infiltrate into Israel.
Palestinians said one of the sites hit was a government-built dairy.
The violence added to tensions in the region stemming from the impasse in peace efforts.
Unlike Hamas, which remains committed to Israel's destruction, the rival, Western-backed Palestinian government in the West Bank supports peace talks with Israel. The U.S.-backed talks have broken down over the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.
With negotiations at a standstill, the Palestinians have launched a campaign for international recognition of a Palestinian state in the absence of a peace deal with Israel.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that its diplomats will actively fight the Palestinian initiative. Spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel believes peace talks are the only way forward.
Further reflecting Israeli-Palestinian tensions, Israel on Tuesday approved a multimillion-dollar plan to renovate Herodian, a key West Bank historical site, sparking Palestinian objections.
Herodian was a winter palace of King Herod, ruler of the Holy Land from 37 to 4 B.C. Israel said it would invest $4.5 million to restore the site because of its connection to the Jewish heritage. Herod expanded the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib said that West Bank sites are a Palestinian heritage, not Israeli, and that such moves deepen tensions.