The Philadelphia Bulletin: Hamas Continues Rocket Strikes on Israel

by David Bedein

Jerusalem - Israeli Military sources that the Hamas regime in Gaza continues to aid terrorists who launch missile, mortar and rocket attacks Israel.

“Hamas wants to show that it is a major player and that it can torpedo any agreement,” an Israeli military source said.

The Hamas regime has launched 261 aerial attacks on southern Israel since the January 18 cease fire

The fact that no one has been killed in these attacks has resulted in nearly no press coverage of the fact that Israel’s southern region remains on high alert.

On Monday, Hamas fired several times into Israel. The Israeli military responded with air force strikes on three suspected Palestinian weapons tunnels in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which borders Egypt.

In addition, Hamas has been targeting Israeli military deployment along the Gaza security fence

On Tuesday, Israeli tanks fired at two Palestinians who were planting bombs along the security fence around the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-aligned Popular Resistance Committee and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine took credit for the attempt to plant the bombs, identifying the two dead Palestinian combatants as Mahmoud Nazir and Abdul Al Silawai. The statement said Nazir and Al Silawai were responsible for firing three rockets into Israel on Aug. 24.”The soldiers on the scene fired tank shells and mortar fire, and identified hitting the suspects,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, European nationals in Israel have filed suit against the EU for relaying hundreds of millions of euros to the Gaza Strip. The 15 plaintiffs said the Hamas and Palestinian militia attacks on their homes in Israel’s Negev Desert violated the European Treaty, which obligated the protection of EU nationals regardless of their residence.

“The European Union gives hundreds of millions of euros every year to aid groups in Gaza,” Mordechai Tzivin, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said. “This money cannot be allowed to target European citizens.”

Tzivin said the EU must reply to the eight-page suit by 14 Britons and an Italian national, submitted in August 2009. He said that unless the European Commission accedes to the demands of the plaintiffs the suit would be filed in the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg.

In 2008, the EU relayed 55.6 million euro in aid to the Gaza Strip. EU states have pledged separately more than 41 million euro in additional funds to Gaza.

The European plaintiffs live near the Gaza Strip and their communities have come under missile fire over the last five years.

View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin