Haaretz
Tishrei 23, 5766
Tens of thousands of Palestinian mourners, many of
them wailing in grief, buried one of Islamic Jihad's top leaders Tuesday
morning in Tul Karm, a day after he was killed during a shootout with
Israel Defense Forces troops, sparking a new round of
violence.
Hours after Luay Saadi, the leader of Islamic Jihad's
military wing in the West Bank, was killed in a gunfight with a close
accomplice in the Tul Karm refugee camp in the West Bank, Islamic Jihad
militants launched five Qassam rockets into Israel from the Gaza
Strip.
Israel, which said it would act harshly against any attacks
from Gaza following its withdrawal from the coastal strip last month,
responded by firing artillery and missiles from a helicopter into empty
fields in northern Gaza the militants used to launch the
rockets.
Palestinian Authoriy Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday
condemned Saadi's killing and Islamic Jihad's retaliation, which he called
"silly."
"We don't accept the Israeli aggression and we don't
accept the silly responses that lead to the punishment of the
(Palestinian) people," he said.
Palestinian militants ultimately
ceased their fire once the PA deployed police officers near their
launching sites.
In an earlier response Monday to the Islamic Jihad
rocket barrage on Monday, the IAF launched a missile strike in the
southern Gaza town of Rafah, hitting a building that housed a pro-Islamic
Jihad charity. The attack moderately wounded a 65-year-old woman and a
4-month-old baby and lightly hurt three others, Palestinian health
officials said.
Israel Radio reported that the Erez and Karni
borders crossings between Israel and Gaza Strip were shut down Monday
night.
The five Qassam rockets that sparked off the recent exchange
of fire in Gaza slammed into open areas near the western Negev town of
Sderot. There were no casualties or damage caused. Palestinian witnesses
said one of the rockets apparently misfired and hit a mourning tent for a
dead Palestinian in northern Gaza.
There were no reports of
Palestinian casualties from the IDF artillery shelling.