Israel reoccupies former Jewish settlements in Gaza

Harinder Mishra

JERUSALEM: Israeli troops and tanks on Thursday re-occupied former Jewish settlements in Gaza to press for release of an abducted soldier and curb Palestinian rocket attacks, a move that could damage popular support for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan to evacuate parts of West Bank.

For the first time since evacuating them last year, troops took control of ruins of the former settlements of Nissanit, Dugit and Elei Sinai, after these areas were used by militants for launching rockets at Israel.

As the ground forces edged forward in the pre-dawn hours, artillery and Israel Air Force aircraft struck targets in the area, aiming at bases and groups of militants.

"Our presence there doesn't mean that we intend to remain in the Gaza Strip. We simply want to prevent firing at our towns," Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told the Army Radio.

Defence spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal called the operation a "limited incursion to ensure the release of our abducted soldier and to stop the rocket fire into Israel".

The Israeli security cabinet had on Wednesday authorised the army to advance into Gaza in response to the kidnapping of a 19-year-old soldier by Palestinian militants on June 25.

The troops also entered the Al-Atara neighborhood close to Beit Lahiya, from where the rockets fired had hit southern Israeli city of Ashkelon.