Israel threatened a harsh response to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza Strip after five soldiers were wounded on Thursday. Israeli security sources and did not rule out a ground operations and said the army should target civilian areas in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army has already decided to impose an "aerial siege" aimed at keeping Palestinians from entering the ruins of three settlements in northern Gaza Strip that are used as launch sites for the rockets.
Most of the rocket attacks have been carried out by the Islamic Jihad.
Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim told Army Radio on Friday that Israel might fire artillery shells toward populated areas in response to Palestinian rocket fire.
Elections
The PLO Executive Committee (EC) reiterated Thursday that the legislative elections should be conducted on the proposed time on January 25, 2006. During its meeting, presided over by President Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, (EC) called on various Palestinian organizations and powers to seriously act for carrying out elections on time.
The EC asserted that all of the Palestinian parties have the right to participate in elections, rejecting any foreign intervention.
According to WAFA, the Committee called upon the Palestinian factions to abide by the calm and work jointly to conduct the elections on time, stressing that some practices of some Palestinian groups could justify Israel to "escalate aggression and to curb the elections."
