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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Related Issues Home page  back Print  Send To friend Israel pounds Gaza after deadly attacks near Eilat BBC 18 August 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14577593 Palestinians react at a hospital after an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip August 18, 2011. The Israeli air strike killed the leader of an armed Palestinian faction, a top lieutenant and three other members in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the group said, hours after Israel blamed gunmen from the territory for cross-border attacks. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa At least six people, including a senior militant, were killed in the air strikes, Palestinian sources said. Earlier, Israeli officials promised a strong response after attacks on vehicles near Eilat left seven dead. Israeli officials said Gazan militants were responsible, although Gaza`s Hamas government denied involvement. Palestinian sources told the BBC that four members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a faction in Gaza that is loyal to Hamas but sometimes operates separately, had been killed in the air strikes. These included Kamal al-Nairab, the group`s top commander, they said. Palestinian sources, also quoted by Reuters, said two people had been killed in a house in Rafah after Israeli drones - often used for air strikes - were heard overhead. The attacks earlier in the day near the southern Israeli city of Eilat began when gunmen opened fire on a bus. Israeli officials said two other vehicles were then hit nearby - one by a rocket and one by an explosive device. They said that the attacks left seven Israelis dead and that a number of gunmen were killed in an ensuing firefight. `Force and determination` Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a `grave incident`. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said earlier: `The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination.` The US, the EU and the UN condemned the attacks in Israel. `We condemn the brutal terrorist attacks in southern Israel today in the strongest terms,` the White House said in a statement. A UN spokesman said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was `concerned at the risk of escalation and calls for all to act with restraint`. Israeli officials said the men who attacked the vehicles near Eilat had came from the Gaza Strip and had entered Israel through Egypt`s Sinai desert. There has been growing concern about a decline in security in Sinai since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February. `This violence only underscores our strong concerns about the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula,` said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. `Recent commitments by the Egyptian government to address the security situation in the Sinai are important and we urge the Egyptian government to find a lasting resolution.` gm Links to the latest articles in this section Adam Keller in Berlin, Sept 5-8 Activists protest Tel Aviv arms exhibition: `Arms trade is death trade` In Memeoriam Beate Keller Zilversmidt, 1942-2021