The radical Islamic Jihad organization has threatened to intensify its rocket attacks against Israel, saying in a leaflet published overnight that it has developed a new, longer- range rocket which can strike further into the Jewish state. ( dpa )
The organization also confirmed in the leaflet that three of its militants killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday evening had been on their way to launch rockets at southern Israel.
The Jihad added that it will continue to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip as a response to Israeli attacks in the West Bank, two of which, last Wednesday, killed five Islamic Jihad men, despite efforts to arrange a truce between Israel and the Palestinian militant cadres.
As a result of the deaths of the Jihad members, who were on Israel's wanted list, the militant organizations intensified their rocket fire, after a comparative lull of several days in which few rockets were launched.
At present, the rockets possessed by the militant organizations can hit Israeli towns and villages adjacent to the Gaza Strip, and also the coastal city of Ashkelon, about 15 kilometres from the salient, which has recently been struck by Russian-made Grad-type Katyusha missiles.