Israel bombards Gaza no-go zone
Foreign Desk Report

GAZA CITY—Explosions were heard in the buffer zone within minutes of the deadline Israel has shelled a newly declared buffer zone in northern Gaza, soon after warning Palestinians they could be shot if they entered it. The Israeli-imposed restrictions came into effect along the border from 1800 (1600 GMT), according to warning leaflets dropped on Gaza earlier. At least three explosions were reported within minutes of the deadline passing.
The buffer area is about 2.5km (1.5 miles) deep and is intended to stop rocket attacks by militant groups. Palestinian officials earlier rejected the buffer zone proposal and called for Israel to re-engage in meaningful peace negotiations. “The ways of buffer-zones, militarism, incursions, attacks, assassinations will just ... add to the cycle of violence and counter-violence,” said senior negotiator Saeb Erekat in a BBC interview. The leaflets, which were signed by the Israeli army command and dropped from the air over northern Gaza, include a map of the security zone and say it will be enforced “until further notice”. “For your own safety, read this statement carefully and act accordingly,” the leaflet says in Arabic.
“Know that the terrorists have made you hostages and human shields and safeguard your interests,” it continues. There are no Palestinian villages in the zone, which corresponds to the site of three former Israeli settlements. Israeli troops and settlers were pulled out of Gaza earlier this year after 37 years of military occupation, but the territory’s coastline and airspace, and its borders with Israel, remain under Israeli control. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave the order to impose the buffer at a meeting with cabinet colleagues and security officials on Sunday. The move followed talks on Thursday in which the prime minister told the army to do everything possible to stop rocket fire from the territory. A rocket attack that day wounded four Israeli soldiers. A Palestinian man was killed when the army responded by firing artillery shells at the launch site in a field it said was empty. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has asked militant groups to stop firing rockets. But Islamic Jihad, blamed by Israel for the majority of the attacks, has reportedly rejected Mr Abbas’ call, blaming Israel for a recent escalation in violence. They say the rocket attacks are retaliation for raids in the West Bank, as well as air strikes on Gaza.
Israeli jets blasted a Palestinian militant group’s base a few miles outside the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday, hours after rockets fired from Lebanon hit a northern Israeli border town. In their deepest strike into Lebanon in 18 months, the Israeli planes attacked a base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a small, Syrian-backed group that has been fighting the Jewish state for decades.
Two guerrillas were lightly wounded, the group said. Later Wednesday, Israeli warplanes flew low over southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa Valley in apparent reconnaissance flights that drew anti-aircraft fire from the Lebanese army, Lebanese security officials said. Witnesses said warplanes roared over the PFLP-GC guerrilla base at Naameh, a hilltop base overlooking the Mediterranean five miles south of Beirut. They heard two booms. The Israeli army said the attack was in response to rockets fired at the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona on Tuesday night. It said it views such attacks with “extreme severity” and holds Lebanon responsible.