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20:28 GMT
GAZA, Oct 29 (KUNA) -- A Grad missile fired from Gaza Strip hit a
nine-storey building in Ashdod town, south Israel, Saturday evening, according
to media reports reaching here from Israel.
The attack injured some residents of the apartment building slightly and
led to a state of terrible panic in the area besides the material damage,
Maariv daily reported without giving numbers of casualties.
Al-Quds Brigades - the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
movement - claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it came in
retaliation for the deadly Israeli raid which killed five of its members
earlier today.
The fighters of the Brigades fired two Grad missiles at Ashdod, some 42 km
to the east of Gaza city, and two mortar shells on an Israeli military post at
Karm Abu-Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and south Gaza Strip
near the borders with Egypt, according to a statement by the group.
Israel's Home Front Command warned residents of the areas located less than
40 km from Gaza against gathering in numbers bigger than 500 persons.
In a related development, the Palestinian Fatah Movement, led by President
Mahmoud Abbas and ruling in the West Bank, blasted the Israel Air Force (IAF)
for the air strike which killed five members of Al-Quds Brigades.
"The Israeli occupation forces committed a new barbaric crime against a
constellation of the Brigades' sons and leaders in Rafah City," said a Fatah
statement received by KUNA here.
"The operation is part of an Israel government design aiming to drag the
region to a new cycle of violence," the movement added.
On its part, Abu-Ali Mustafa Battalions, the armed wing of the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said it fired three Grad
missiles into areas east Gaza Strip, in addition to a missile of 107 type
which targeted Kfar settlement.
"Today's attacks are part of the retaliation for the crime committed by the
occupation authorities against the heroes of Al-Quds Brigades," the Battalions
said, highlighting the importance of Palestinian national unity as a crucial
weapon against Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened a strong
Israeli response to the rocket attacks from Gaza Strip.
In statements to Israel Radio he said the Jewish state seeks neither a
confrontation with the Palestinians nor an escalation of the current situation
but it "will not tolerate barrage after barrage without retaliating."
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is scheduled to chair an operations forum by
the General Staff to discuss the military escalation with the Palestinian
factions later tonight. (pickup previous)
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