Enlarge imageBy Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched fresh missile strikes in Gaza on Saturday, a day after it killed six Hamas militants, and vowed to keep targeting gunmen who fire rockets as a five-month ceasefire moved closer to collapse.
The latest air raid destroyed three workshops, including a metal foundry, in Gaza City and the Khan Younis refugee camp and injured two Palestinian bystanders. The Israeli army said the Islamic group Hamas had used the structures to make munitions. Witnesses denied the workshops produced munitions.
On Friday, an Israeli missile killed a Hamas militant in the West Bank and troops shot dead his comrade after he escaped and fired at them. A second raid killed four gunmen in a car in Gaza, which Hamas officials said carried makeshift rockets.
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Israel resumed its targeted killings, a tactic condemned internationally, after a rocket attack killed an Israeli woman on Thursday. Gaza militants have bombarded Jewish settlements and Israeli towns with rockets and mortar bombs in recent weeks.
Dozens were fired on Friday, wounding two Israelis lightly and causing damage to structures.
Israel massed several military vehicles around Gaza late on Friday and news reports quoted security sources as saying the Jewish state might raid militant strongholds in the area in the coming days to try to stop rocket launchers. The army had no comment.
Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef said the Israeli missile strikes were unjustified and would create more tension, but said the government would try to salvage the truce. He said no faction had the right to end it on its own.
The surge in violence has raised the prospect of disruption to Israel’s planned pullout from Gaza, which is set to start in August. The withdrawal has stirred new hopes of reviving Middle East peace efforts.
"There is no chance to reach a peace agreement as long as terror occurs," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israel’s Channel 2 television on Friday.
Hamas, sworn to Israel’s destruction, has warned that the air strikes would "open the doors of hell" on Israel and said it was reconsidering its commitment to honouring a ceasefire Israeli and Palestinian leaders had declared in February.
Sharon said Israel would launch a "strong and harsh" response against militants.
Israel has said it will act to ensure it’s evacuation of all 9,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza does not occur under fire. Palestinian militants want to claim the pullout as a victory.
