Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed an open-ended offensive against Palestinian militants and Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip yesterday after a suicide bomber killed five Israelis.
The bombing on Wednesday in the coastal city of Hadera dealt a serious blow to an eight-month-old truce and international hopes for a revival of peacemaking after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.
Sharon said there could be no advance towards peace for now because of the "absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority in the fight against terrorism" as he promised to launch a major military operation.
PHOTO: AP
"Our action will be broad and will not stop until it brings about a cessation of terrorism," Sharon said ahead of a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Tel Aviv.
Sharon had agreed to an offensive in the northern West Bank against Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for the bombing to avenge the killing of a top commander on Monday, security sources said.
No timetable was given for the West Bank offensive amid the worst flare-up of violence since Israel left Gaza last month after 38 years of occupation. Israeli aircraft launched six missile strikes on the Gaza Strip, saying they were to stop rocket fire from the territory. There were no casualties.
Troops arrested the 20-year-old bomber's father in the northern West Bank yesterday. Another nine suspected Islamic militants were held.
The suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a sandwich stand in the main outdoor market in Hadera, a frequent target of attacks in a five-year-old Palestinian uprising. Five people were killed and more than 30 wounded.
The attack was the first bombing in the Jewish state since Aug. 28, when a suicide bomber wounded 20 people in Beersheba.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing and pledged to try to salvage the truce he agreed to earlier this year.
"It harms the interest of the Palestinian people and leads to further expansion of the cycle of violence," he said.
Israeli officials noted the attack followed remarks in Tehran by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Israel should be "wiped off the map".
In response, Israel intensified its demands for Tehran to be expelled from the UN amid an international outcry over Ahmadinejad's remarks.
The international community expressed outrage at his inflammatory speech which Israeli officials hope will galvanize efforts to penalize Tehran for alleged nuclear activities.
"It's the first time since the creation of the UN that one of its members has openly called for the destruction of another," said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres calling for the UN to throw out Iran.
Islamic Jihad, sworn to Israel's destruction, had vowed revenge after Israeli troops shot dead West Bank commander Loai Assadi, the most senior militant killed since the truce began.
Leaders from Islamic Jihad and several other militant groups in Gaza rejoiced at news of the bombing and vowed to continue responding to Israeli attacks against Palestinians despite the ceasefire.
Asked about Abbas's condemnation of the bombing, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said: "Anyone who criticizes the resistance is a violator of the national consensus and stands beside the enemy."
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
‘PLAINLY ERRONEOUS’: The justice department appealed a Trump-appointed judge’s blocking of the release of a report into election interference by the incoming president US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against US president-elect Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents, has resigned after submitting his investigative report on Trump, an expected move that came amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The US Department of Justice disclosed Smith’s departure in a footnote of a court filing on Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions
RSS