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Olmert OKs Gaza Attacks

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By ARON HELLER, The Associated Press

Published: February 18, 2008

SDEROT, Israel - Israel's prime minister on Sunday gave his military a "free hand" to attack Gaza militants after a rocket slammed into a house in this town where the visiting U.N. humanitarian chief had just called for an end to the daily salvos.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would not allow a humanitarian crisis to develop in Gaza, but the people there could not live normal lives while Israelis across the border were constantly targeted by rockets.

"We will reach out for anyone involved in perpetrating terrorism against Israelis, and we will not hesitate to attack them in order to stop them," he said. "That applies to everyone, first and foremost Hamas. Hamas is in charge of Gaza."

Olmert was speaking at a gathering of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem.

Early Sunday, Israeli ground forces backed by aircraft entered Gaza. Three Palestinian militants and a civilian were killed in clashes, and an Israeli soldier was seriously wounded. More than 20 people were wounded, including several gunmen and a 45-year-old civilian who was shot in the head, Palestinian health officials said.

The military said the target was the Gaza "terror infrastructure," and more than 80 Palestinians were taken for questioning.

John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, had just left Sderot, where he made an appeal for an end to the rocket fire from Gaza, when a rocket exploded in a house there.

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