PM: Attack on Ashkelon will have far-reaching consequences

Soucre: Haaretz, 05-07-2006
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert convened an urgent security cabinet meeting Wednesday morning, in the wake of the Qassam rocket strike on the center of the southern coastal city of Ashkelon on Tuesday evening.
The rocket hit an empty parking lot of the ORT Ronson High School building, causing light damage but no injuries. This was the furthest north that a rocket fired from Gaza has reached.
Hamas` military wing, the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, later claimed credit for the attack.
However, (War) Minister Amir Peretz on Tuesday ordered the "Israeli" Army to step up the pace and force of its operation in the Gaza Strip.
"This is a major escalation Hamas organization is responsible for," Olmert claimed in a speech at the home of U.S. Ambassador to "Israel" Richard Jones, marking the American Fourth of July holiday.
The retaliation was an "attempt meant to harm "Israeli" settlers within the borders of "Israel", and it will have far-reaching consequences," the prime minister continued. "The Hamas organization will be the first to feel this."
The militant group said the rocket was an upgraded version of the original Qassam, reaching a range of 15 kilometers.
The army claims the rocket was launched from the northern-most point of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun. The dual-engined rocket traversed the longest distance of a projectile ever launched from the Gaza Strip.
A rocket hit the Ashkelon cemetery last week, just south of the school, and it is estimated that it reached a distance of 10 km.
The Qassam`s range is known to hover near 10 kilometers; however Palestinian militant groups are known to be undertaking efforts to extend the range.
The rocket that landed in the cemetery last week carried two engines, believed to be the factor in boosting its range.
Islamic Jihad is known to possess Katyusha rockets of "Grad" type, which have a greater range. Palestinians in Gaza have launched the rocket three times, but it has only succeeded in reaching targets a few kilometers away, far short of its intended range.
Two Qassam rockets were fired toward Sderot earlier Tuesday afternoon but landed in Palestinian territory. Three rockets also landed in "Israel" before dawn on Tuesday.