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| Palestinian rocket strikes Israel, drawing Israeli reprisal |
Gaza (Telephost) - Note the marked pro-Palestinian bias of the AP report: the focus on the Israeli retaliation, the mentioning of the 17-year-old wounded boy (what was he doing?), implying that the Israeli strikes were disproportionate, indiscriminate, and targeted at civilians, etc.
Only way down in the story do we hear that the rocket struck in an Israeli residential area — because the jihadis do actually target civilians. Nonetheless, it is clear from the report which side was the aggressor, as always.
The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip late Sunday, targeting Hamas positions in response to a Palestinian rocket attack that hit an Israeli border town earlier in the day.
Palestinian Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Qidra said two Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy, were lightly wounded.
Palestinian officials said nearly all of the airstrikes took place in northern Gaza, near the Israeli border. While most of the attacks targeted Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, one struck a military camp used by the smaller Islamic Jihad group.
Lt. Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said the operation was meant “to bring quiet to the people of southern Israel.” He accused Hamas of trying to “inflict pain, cause fear and to terrorize” Israelis in the middle of the summer vacation period.
Sunday’s rocket attack struck the Israeli border town of Sderot in the middle of the day and disrupted what has been a quiet summer in the volatile area. The rocket landed in a residential area, exploding next to a house. There were no injuries.
Israel responded quickly with airstrikes and tank fire, and then carried out a second round of airstrikes shortly before midnight….