Jerusalem – Israel’s deputy defense minister threatened Tuesday to target Hamas political leaders, calling them “terrorists in suits” after a rocket attack by the Islamic militant group killed an Israeli woman.
The harsh words were backed up by action. Israeli airstrikes targeted two suspected arms caches and two Hamas bases. Later, an Israeli helicopter strafed a rocket launch site with machine-gun fire near the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Palestinian officials said a total of 10 people were wounded.
Just before midnight Tuesday, Israeli planes struck unoccupied buildings used by Hamas-linked forces, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said aircraft destroyed an arms store in northern Gaza and fired toward a Hamas base in Rafah.
The 31-year-old woman who died Monday night was the first Israeli killed by a Palestinian rocket since November.
Israeli leaders suggested that even Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas could be targeted in reprisals.
“We don’t care if he’s a ringleader, a perpetrator of rocket launching or if he is one of the political leaders,” Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told reporters. “No one has immunity.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of the moderate Fatah movement, traveled from his West Bank headquarters to Gaza for talks with Hamas leadership in a last-ditch attempt to salvage a truce with Israel and rein in factional bloodletting between the two parties.
