Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships launched three air strikes in rapid succession around Gaza City yesterday, killing two Hamas militants and a bystander and wounding 23 other Palestinians.
The attacks, the latest in a cycle of tit-for-tat violence that has stalled a US-backed peace plan, came after gunmen killed three Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to deliver a policy speech to parliament.
In his policy speech opening the winter session of parliament, Sharon reaffirmed his commitment to the US-backed peace "road map."
He said that the plan -- drafted by the US, the UN, Russia and the EU -- was the "only hope" of a breakthrough towards peace with the Palestinians.
Sharon once again urged the Palestinian Authority to rein in militant groups spearheading a three-year-old uprising against Israel for statehood. He also called Palestinian President Yasser Arafat the biggest obstacle to Middle East peace and said Israel was determined to "remove" him from the political scene.
Earlier, in the bloodiest of three Israeli strikes carried out in five hours, a helicopter-fired missile hit a mini-van at a traffic light in densely populated Gaza City. Hamas sources said two members of the Islamic militant group were burnt to death in the attack.
Supporters screaming for revenge flooded into Gaza's Shifa hospital where their bodies were taken.
A 35-year-old man in a nearby car was also killed in the air strike and nine people were wounded, medics said.
Three hours earlier, an Israeli warplane bombed a building next to the home of Islamic Jihad leader Abdallah al-Shami in Gaza. The Israeli army said it had not been aiming for Shami but instead had destroyed a Hamas weapons workshop next door.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said the air strikes made it harder for Israel and the Palestinians to hold talks on ending three years of violence.
"Unfortunately this is part of the permanent Israeli aggression against the Palestinians," he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Jibril Rajoub, Arafat's senior security adviser, said: "The Israelis have to realize that their aggression against Palestinians only brings suffering, blood and lack of security for them."
A helicopter gunship also fired a missile that destroyed a one-room building on the outskirts of Gaza City. No casualties were reported.
The army said it hit a Hamas weapons storage site.
Palestinian medics said at least 14 civilians, including four women and four children, suffered light to moderate shrapnel injuries in the bombing raid in Gaza.
"Suddenly we heard a big boom and it was like an earthquake, everything started to fall on us, glass, pieces of debris," said neighbor Rawda al-Jamal, who rushed from his home carrying his wounded, one-year-old son in his arms.
"There I saw my neighbors' houses collapsing. People were screaming and running," he said.
Shami told al-Jazeera television he believed he had been the target of the air strike, not the building next door.
"The Zionist enemy blatantly said a few months ago that they had placed me on a list of targets," he said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft