GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip-
Militants in Lebanon sent rockets crashing into northern Israel on Wednesday, while Israeli aircraft pounded a Gaza cemetery, Hamas weapons positions and tunnels used for smuggling, witnesses and the military said Wednesday.The rockets from Lebanon landed in open areas near the town of Kiryat Shemona, causing no injuries or damage, Israeli police said. Residents of northern Israel were instructed to head to bomb shelters following the second attack from Lebanon in less than a week.The rockets have fueled Israel's fears that militants in Lebanon could try to open a second front in solidarity with Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers.The Israeli air and ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 940 Palestinians, half of them civilians, according to Palestinian hospital officials. Eight years of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israeli towns sparked the war, which began on Dec. 27 with a devastating air offensive, then expanded to include a ground campaign.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday's rocket attacks from Lebanon. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrilla group that fought a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, denied involvement in a similar attack last week and speculation has focused on small Palestinian groups in Lebanon.
Lebanese security officials said the Israeli army fired shells on southern Lebanon in response. Israeli helicopter gunships flew reconnaissance missions along the heavily protected border as Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers sent out patrols, the Lebanese officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the press.Residents in southern Lebanon took their children out of school in fear of an escalation.The Israeli military confirmed that it returned fire, and said it regarded the Lebanese government and military as responsible for preventing attacks on Israel.Three more Grad rockets that were set to be fired were discovered and dismantled by Lebanese troops several hours after the initial morning rocket firing, the officials said.In Gaza, Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships pounded 60 targets overnight, including a police court in Gaza City, rocket-launching sites, weapons-production and storage facilities and about 35 weapons smuggling tunnels, the military said. Witnesses in southern Gaza reported an airstrike on the house of a rocket squad leader.Aircraft also struck the Sheikh Radwan cemetery in Gaza City, destroying about 30 graves-some recently dug and scattering body parts for yards, residents said.The military had no immediate comment, but rocket squads have used graveyards as launching pads in the past."There was flesh on the roofs, there was small bits of intestines. My neighbor found a hand of a woman who died a long time ago, we put it all into a plastic bag," said resident Ahmad Abu Jarbou.Four Palestinians, including at least two militants, were killed and 32 people were wounded in overnight fighting, Gaza hospital officials said.
By AP
As in the days of Noah...