Palestinian rockets kill two Israeli children, Israel vows "necessary" response

SDEROT, Israel (AFP) - Two Israeli children were killed at the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot when a Palestinian rocket hit this southern Israeli town, prompting an Israeli government spokesman to vow "necessary measures" to protect the country's citizens.
The strike Wednesday evening, claimed by the radical group Hamas, capped a day of violence in which seven Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops in the occupied territories.
Immediately after the strike, the Israeli air force carried out a series of air raids on northern Gaza, killing another Palestinian and wounding more than 20.
"Two children were killed by a Qassam rocket that hit Sderot," an army spokeswoman told AFP.
Emergency services spokesman Yerucham Mandola told Israel's private Channel 2 television medics had "evacuated two in critical condition who later died in hospital".
Channel 2 named the children as four-year-old Yuval Abebe and five-year-old Dorit Inasso, and said the two were related.
Another 23 people were wounded in the strike, one seriously, Mandola said.
Fired from the northern Gaza Strip, the rocket struck as children and families filled the streets of Sderot to celebrate the start of Succot, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles
An AFP correspondent at the scene said the rocket hit a path running between two houses. The army had initially said the rocket hit a playground.
Several hours later, the Israeli defence establishment decided to step up an ongoing operation in northern Gaza aimed at stemming the flow of rockets, Channel 2 reported, citing a senior defence official.
"The ongoing operation will be broadened and deepened, which means the deployment of more forces in the area," the channel said, without naming the official.
"It will mean a significant broadening of activity in Jabaliya, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun and it will be much more aggressive," it said, referring to the three main towns in the northern Gaza Strip.
In the aftermath of the strike, claimed by Hamas in a statement sent to AFP, a government spokesman said Israel would take every necessary measure to protect itself from Palestinian rocket fire.
"Israel, like any country under attack will defend itself with all necessary measures to make sure (the rocket fire) stops," Avi Pazner told AFP.
The strike came after Israeli armour moved into northern Gaza late Tuesday in a new operation aimed at halting the flow of rockets fired on southern Israel.
Pazner said: "If this (operation) is not working, then we will have to make a further effort. We will do whatever it takes to defend our citizens."
A close aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon quoted the premier as saying Israel would "respond severely" to the attack on Sderot.
"Every effort will be made to make it more difficult for the Palestinians to conduct such attacks," he quoted him as saying.
Following the attack, Israeli helicopter gunships carried out a series of air raids on Jabaliya, killing a Palestinian militant and injuring 22, three of them seriously, medics said.
The victim was named as Musab al-Baradei, 24, a member of the Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the radical Popular Resistance Committees, a group spokesman told AFP.
One of those hurt was pronounced clinically dead.
The army also closed down the checkpoints along the trans-Gaza highway, splitting the territory into three sections, a spokesman said.
Shortly afterwards, another rocket hit Sderot but caused no injuries or damage, the army said.
The so-called Qassam rockets are named after the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. They can carry a five-kilo (11-pound) explosive charge and have a 10-kilometre (six-mile) range, but are generally inaccurate.
The army has been battling with rocket attacks for months, and mounted a massive five-week offensive in northern Gaza in July and another four-day raid earlier this month.
The first fatal Qassam attack occurred in June, when an Israeli toddler and a man were killed in Sderot.
Earlier Wednesday, seven Palestinians, two of them militants, were shot dead by Israeli troops in various confrontations across the occupied territories.
A Palestinian militant and two teenagers were killed and another 50 people wounded as Israeli troops clashed with gunmen in Jabaliya as the army pressed its large-scale operation there.
The dead were identified as Hamas militant Tawfik Ali Sharafi, 22, and teenage boys Ahmed Madi, 17, and Said Abu Eish, 14.
In central Gaza, 13-year-old Mohammed Jaber, was killed when soldiers opened fire on stone throwers near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, medics said.
In the northern West Bank, a Palestinian taxi driver and his passenger were killed by Israeli troops as they were driving in the town of Jenin, medics said.
The two were named as Rateb Abu Taleb, 50, and Mohammed al-Bitar, 25.
The seventh victim, a wanted militant, was shot dead by troops at dawn in the northern city of Nablus, security sources said.
Majdi Khalifa, 25, belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.
Wednesday's violence brought to 4,356 the number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, four years ago. They include 3,335 Palestinians and 950 Israelis, according to an AFP count.