The Plot Sickens

In a ratcheting up of aggression, Gaza Palestinians launched a Katyusha rocket at Israel which hit the edge of the city of Ashkelon yeserday.  Katyusha rockets increase the danger to Israeli lives over the Kassam - several thousand more Israelis are now within range:

Israel: Rocket Attack on Ashkelon a "Strategic Threat" - Yaakov Katz, Khaled Abu Toameh, and Herb Keinon
The IDF stepped up its offensive against Islamic Jihad rocket squads in Gaza on Thursday, killing nine Palestinians in a series of ground and air strikes after a long-range Katyusha rocket struck northern Ashkelon for the first time. A senior PA representative said, "The instructions for firing the Katyusha rocket came from Damascus and Teheran....The timing of the rocket attack is no coincidence and is mainly aimed at disrupting Bush's visit." Also Thursday, three Kassam rockets and 10 mortar shells were fired by Palestinians in Gaza at Israel, including one rocket that hit the backyard of a home in Sderot.
    A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office characterized the rocket attack on Ashkelon as "a strategic threat," and said it showed once again the urgency of stopping the arms smuggling from Sinai into Gaza. "We are concerned that the types of weapons coming into Gaza are giving them new strategic potential," the official said. "This was not the first rocket of this type to be fired on Israel, but we are concerned that unless decisive action is taken there could be more of this." "If we see ongoing smuggling into Gaza of munitions and weaponry, then this is a strategic threat for a quarter of a million people in the South who are within the range of the rockets," he said. The official said it was clear that the current level of weapons smuggling cannot go on, and that "actions have to be taken." (Jerusalem Post)
    See also National Security Council: Rocket Threat Could Worsen - Roni Sofer
Israel's National Security Council warned Thursday against the looming rocket threat, saying that Palestinian rocket range could rise significantly due to new technologica l developments. "The wide range of operations carried out by Israel, both military and civil, have succeeded in curbing activity by gunmen, but no real answer has been found for the rocket threat, which has been Israel's main concern for the past two years," says a report by the council submitted to the government. According to the report, 2,383 Palestinian rockets landed in Israel in 2001-2007, 20 people were killed and 583 wounded in rocket strikes. More than 1,600 cases of stress-related injuries have been reported in the last six months due to rocket attacks. Sderot is the main target for the attacks, absorbing 45% of the rockets. (Ynet News)
    See also Katyusha in Ashkelon - Amos Harel
A rocket hitting Ashkelon's northern edge means that another several thousand people are suddenly in rocket range of Gaza. It is clear that the threat to Ashkelon is now greater than had previously been thought. The ruins of the former settlements in northern Gaza provide a launching ground from which the rockets can reach northern Ashkelon. Most rockets hitting Ashkelon are launched by Islamic Jihad, with Hamas' consent. (Ha'aretz)
    See also Palestinian Rocket Fire at Sderot Continues Friday (Jerusalem Post)