MIDDLE EAST: Hamas fired a rocket into a major Israeli city yesterday for the first time, hitting the Carlsberg brewery in coastal Ashkelon but causing no damage. Israel immediately sent a small contingent of tanks and bulldozers into the northern Gaza Strip to clear trees and bushes used for cover in the area from which the rocket was launched.
Some Israeli leaders called for a much more extensive military operation in Gaza to retake territory relinquished by the army to the Palestinian Authority's control two months ago. The Israeli army has been massing troops on the northern Gaza border for several days.
PA officials said they tried to prevent the Qassam rocket attack, and wounded one Hamas member involved as he and his colleagues drove from the scene.
But several Israeli ministers last night derided the PA claim and said Israel now had to redeploy its troops in northern Gaza to prevent further rocket salvoes.
The Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, said he had "ordered the defence establishment to take all the necessary steps against Hamas and to prevent these kind of actions". Israel had alleged that Hamas used the now-ended seven-week Intifada ceasefire to improve the range and accuracy of the Qassams and build up stocks of the missiles.
"Today we saw the evidence of that," said the Israeli Education Minister, Ms Limor Livnat. Previously, Qassam's had flown five miles; yesterday's rocket travelled for nine, and landed near the Ashkelon power station and fuel storage depot.
While Israel alleges the PA has yet to take concerted action against Hamas, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mr Mahmoud Abbas, has frozen the bank accounts of nine charities, some of which he believes are Hamas fronts, and asked Saudi Arabia, which funds some of them, to direct charitable contributions via the PA instead.
An estimated 2,000 Palestinians from families who receive welfare payments from some of these charities held a rally in Gaza yesterday protesting against the measure. A reason for Hamas's popularity is its monthly assistance payments and network of welfare organisations funded by Saudi Arabia, Iran and other sources, which have supported impoverished Palestinians - in marked contrast to the PA.