NAZARETH (PIC)– Israeli premier Ehud Olmert on Sunday threatened to escalate his war on the Hamas Movement and its armed wing in the event the Qassam missiles continued to fall on Israeli colonies surrounding the Gaza Strip.
Olmert addressing the inaugural session of his weekly cabinet meeting threatened the Hamas leaders and commanders that they would pay dearly for sanctioning the firing of missiles at Israeli settlements.
He stressed that his government would extend the necessary support to the inhabitants of Sderot including completing the construction of fortified shelters at a cost of more than a hundred million dollars.
The Hebrew radio for its part quoted Israeli security sources as saying that the Israeli government was more inclined to allow a large-scale land invasion of the Strip.
The sources said that the government asked a number of Arab countries to pressure Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal into halting the firing of missiles adding that they spoke of Saudi Arabia as the most likely country to influence Hamas in this regard.
Abu Zuhri: Olmert’s threats reflect panic in occupation lines:
For his part Sami Abu Zuhri one of the Hamas spokesmen in the Strip said that Olmert’s threats to escalate aggression on the Movement and its leaders only reflected the state of panic that engulfed the occupation army as a result of the continued firing of resistance missiles.
In a press release Abu Zuhri affirmed that the Zionist threats would not terrorize Hamas or weaken its resoluteness and steadfastness.
He emphasized that the Palestinian resistance atop of which came Hamas and its armed wing would continue to fire locally made missiles at Israeli settlements in retaliation to the IOF crimes against the Palestinian people.
The Qassam Brigades the armed wing of Hamas announced that it fired on Sunday five home made missiles at Sderot settlement at two separate intervals in the morning and afternoon.
The QB said that the Israeli settlers should pack up and leave Sderot forever noting that its inhabitants have spent the fourth consecutive day in shelters.
In a related development the Israeli union of industrialists told Hebrew daily Ha’aretz that the firing of Palestinian resistance missiles over the past few days had caused more than 16 million dollars losses to the industrial sector only.
The union attributed the losses to the absence of 85% of the total workforce in the settlement and the western Negev. Local observers described Sderot as a ghost town.
