Israel strikes back at Hamas rocket men

NY Times:

Israel continued its military offensive in Gaza on Saturday, destroying a minivan containing a Hamas rocket maker and two associates and demolishing at least five homes in Beit Hanun, on the Gaza-Israel border.

The rocket maker, identified by Hamas as Louay al-Burnu, was killed Saturday in Gaza City with two other members of the militant faction. Another Hamas fighter was killed in a gun battle with Israeli forces after firing an antitank rocket near Beit Hanun, and an Israeli noncommissioned officer was badly wounded. A Palestinian civilian, Marwan Abu Harbid, 46, died when an Israeli tank shell hit his home, burying him inside, a relative told The Associated Press.

In nearby Jabaliya, a Hamas member died from wounds from an artillery shell, which wounded four other members of Hamas’s military wing. Later Saturday, two brothers, both members of Hamas, were killed in a helicopter strike, as was a 16-year-old Palestinian, according to Agence France-Presse.

Since Israel began its new campaign to halt rocket fire into Israel four days ago, more than 40 Palestinians have been killed, most of them militants, and one Israeli soldier has died. More than 200 Palestinians have been wounded, some 30 of them seriously, Palestinian health officials and doctors at local hospitals said.

The rocket fire has continued, with 28 rockets landing in Israel since the operation began Wednesday, an army spokesman said. At least three Israelis have been wounded by shrapnel. Because Beit Hanun is so close to Israel, Palestinian militants often come there to fire their short-range Qassam rockets, made in Gazan workshops, toward nearby Israeli towns like Sderot and Ashkelon.

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On Friday, Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations criticized the Gaza operation in a statement and urged Israelis “to exercise maximum restraint, do their utmost to protect civilians and to refrain from further escalating an already grave situation.”

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Kofi is completely clueless. Israel would not be attacking these people if they would stop the unprovoked rocket attacks. If Hamas keeps sponsoring attacks against Israel then Israel has a right and a duty to destroy those responsible for these attacks. It is ludicrous for Kofi Annan to suggest restraint in the use of force against people who have no inhibitions about killing Israeli's. Shouldn't Kofi even at least give some lip service to requesting that the Palestinians stop violating the Geneva Conventions?