Gaza attacks prompt threat of retaliation

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli’s prime minister threatened “harsh and disproportionate” retaliation after Gaza militants fired at least 10 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel on Sunday, wounding three and raising the risk of fresh violence days ahead of elections.

Israel hit back late Sunday, bombing the Egypt-Gaza border area where Hamas smuggles in weapons through tunnels, Palestinians said.

No casualties were reported.

Since an unwritten truce ended Israel’s offensive in Gaza two weeks ago, rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian territory has increased steadily.

Israeli retaliation, including brief ground incursions and bombing runs aimed at rocket launchers and smuggling tunnels, is intensifying.

All three candidates to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the Feb. 10 vote leveled their own threats against Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

A late afternoon mortar barrage on the village of Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza border fence, wounded two soldiers and a civilian, the military and rescue services said. Earlier, a rocket landed near a kindergarten near Gaza, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Even before the mortars hit Nahal Oz, Olmert told his Cabinet that “if there is shooting at residents of the south, there will be an Israeli response that will be harsh and disproportionate by its nature.”

Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said Olmert’s threat was an attempt by Israel to “find false pretexts to increase its aggression against the people” of Gaza.

Hamas has not taken responsibility for the new attacks, which have been claimed by smaller militant groups.

But Israel says it holds Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since seizing power in June 2007, responsible for all attacks coming from there.

Israeli defense officials said they had not yet formulated a response to the strikes, but said a return to the offensive — in which Israeli tanks and infantry units penetrated deep into Gaza — was unlikely.

Instead, they said Israel would consider airstrikes, including attempts to kill Hamas leaders. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing classified security matters.

Late Sunday, Palestinians reported huge explosions as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the Egypt-Gaza border area, where Hamas operates tunnels to smuggle in weapons, food and other goods, Palestinians said.

The military had no immediate comment.

Israeli aircraft first flew over the area, setting off sonic booms. Residents said hundreds of people who work in the tunnels fled, then waited in the streets of the border city, Rafah, for the attacks to end so they could return.

The three-week Israeli offensive left nearly 1,300 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.