MIDDLE EAST: A large-scale Israeli raid into northern Gaza, which killed four Palestinians yesterday, failed to stem the firing of rockets into Israel, with one of the makeshift missiles killing an infant and a young child toward evening after it slammed into the southern town of Sderot, not far from the Strip.
Two Qassam rockets landed in a residential area, killing the two children - aged two and four - and wounding at least 13 other people, one seriously.
The attack came as Israelis ushered in the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (the harvest celebration) and provided further ammunition for those on the Israeli right who oppose Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw next year from Gaza.
"I saw a boy who had lost both his legs," said Haviv Ben Abbo, a Sderot resident who ran to the area where the rockets landed. "We tried to stop the bleeding. We tried to resuscitate him."
Mr Sharon called the attack a "grave act". The army was last night expected to expand the operation already underway in northern Gaza from where the rockets are fired.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, for which Hamas claimed responsibility, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at targets in the Jabalya refugee camp, killing one Palestinian. Many of the militants responsible for the rocket fire live in the camp.
Qassam rockets have so far claimed the lives of four people in Sderot - including the two yesterday - and have spread terror through the small town. In total, 12 rockets have landed there so far this week.
The army has raided northern Gaza before in a bid to end the Qassam fire, but with only limited success. In the latest raid, troops shot dead a gunman as well as two teenagers - aged 14 and 17 - who were part of a crowd of youths hurling stones at Israeli forces. A 13-year-old boy was also killed yesterday in the Strip in a separate incident. In the West Bank, Israeli troops killed another three Palestinians, one of them a militant they were trying to arrest in Nablus.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Mr Saeb Erekat criticised the Gaza raid, saying that while "the Israeli government is talking about withdrawal and disengagement from Gaza, it is obvious that what is happening is the preparation for reoccupying Gaza".
Violence has escalated since Mr Sharon made clear his intention to evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza by next year.