IAF hits N. Gaza following Qassam attack

Air force launches strike against Qassam cell in northern Gaza, leaving one man dead; rocket hits Sderot home directly

Shmulik Hadad
Latest Update: 04.21.07, 23:20 / Israel News

Shortly after the shooting, Israel Air Force helicopters launched an air strike against the terror cell responsible for a Saturday afternoon Qassam attack on Sderot.

Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that a car was hit in the strike, killing one Palestinian and wounding another. The sources said that the car belonged to members of the Islamic Jihad's Qassam-launching cell, although they claimed the fatality - Kemal Anan - was not directly involved in firing the rocket.

This is only the second time since November 2006 - with the onset of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority - that the IAF has struck a Qassam-launching cell, although there have been a number of Qassam attacks in the interim.

In this most recent attack, one of the rockets directly hit a house in Sderot, while two other rockets landed in open fields outside the town. Magen David Adom reported that six people suffered shock.