Qassam rocket hits school in center of Ashkelon

Haaretz.com ^ | 22:11 04/07/2006 | By Amos Harel, Yuval Azoulay, Avi Issacharoff, Aluf Benn and Mijal Grinberg

[edpc]

A Qassam rocket landed at the center of the southern coastal city of Ashkelon for the first time on Tuesday evening, hitting the ORT Ronson High School building, causing light damage to the structure but no injuries.

Hamas - via its military wing, the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - later claimed credit for the rocket attack, the deepest ever a Qassam has reached into Israeli territory.

"This is a major escalation in the war of terror that the Hamas organization is responsible for," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a speech at the home of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones, marking the American Fourth of July holiday.

[edpc]

Hamas certainly has a deathwish. Funny how they plea with the U.N. to condemn Israel while indiscriminately firing rockets all over the place.

[CondorFlight]

"This is a major escalation in the war of terror that the Hamas organization is responsible for," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert"

He would say that. But there is nothing new in this--ask the residents of Sederot.

It's only a matter of time before a school FULL OF CHILDREN
is hit, and there are many casualties.
Then Olmert can wring his hands even more, and the State Dept. can urge even more restraint (after all, it was only one school. . .)

[edpc]

Do they have year round school attendance in Israel? Just curious.

[jocko12]

The IDF should have kicked the hamas butts by now.

[goldstategop]

All the gift of the Sharon capitulation last year. The PLO's upgraded rocket arsenal and ability to smuggle in from Egypt unimpeded vast quantities of arms is his legacy to the Jewish State. And as his successors are finding out, its not easy to proceed with plans for still more surrenders of Jewish land when you're now in the firing line.

(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)

[goldstategop]

Its more Really Really Hard bluster we're seeing from the Israeli government. It has a magnificient army but is almost afraid to deploy it to reoccupy Gaza since every one would understand last year's pullout was a colossal blunder. No matter; whether Olmert does or doesn't act, inevitably Israel will have to commence Reoccupation and Denazification. There is no alternative.

(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)

[Hildy]

I lived in a kibbutz right next to Ashkelon.