Hamas Fires Scores Of Rockets Into Israel

Terrorists have fired more than 60 Qassam rockets into Israel in the past week, wounding a mother and her four-year-old child and injuring dozens of other civilians, according to the Israel Project, a nonprofit group.

Most of the rockets fell on the Israeli town of Sderot, northeast of Gaza.

Two people were lightly wounded and several suffered shock when one of the Qassams hit a college in the northern Negev Desert.

Members of Hamas, the terrorist group that leads the Palestinian Authority government, claimed responsibility for more than 45 of the rockets fired.

“The Hamas government is behind the terrorist actions and it cannot be that it also seeks international recognition and economic assistance from the nations of the world,” Israeli Prime Minister Olmert said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said, “The situation in the last two days is unbearable…The Israeli government will take all the necessary steps in order to give security to Israeli citizens and we expect the international community to demand of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinians to stop this violence against innocent civilians in Israel.”

Terrorists fired more than 334 Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Israel since a cease-fire went into effect on Nov. 26 last year.

Israel evacuated all 9,000 of its residents living in Gaza in August 2005, turning the area over to the Palestinians in the hope that it would pave the way for an independent Palestinian state living peacefully next to Israel.

But the Hamas-led Palestinian government has done nothing to stop the attacks, which began almost immediately after Israel withdrew from Gaza. Palestinian television also is showing a Hamas version of Mickey Mouse which encourages children to become terrorists.

Last year, from another direction, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets and missiles into Israel from Lebanon, destroying buildings and killing and maiming innocent civilians.

The United States and Israel have partnered on several anti-missile programs, and $504 million funding in a House-passed bill would aid such work further.