HAMAS Sends A Welcome to President Bush

Hamas wanted to give President Bush the proper welcome so it sent a Grad rocket toward the Hutzot Shopping Center in Ashkelon. At least 14 hurt, including a little baby.

It is US pressure that prevent Israel from launching a major operation in Gaza to clean out Hamas once and for all. I have an Idea Mr. President. Perhaps you can allow your daughter to spend her Honeymoon in Sderot or Ashkelon? After all, you and your mouthpiece Condoleezza Rice don't think a major operation is necessary to protect Israeli citizens. More about the missile attack below:

At least 14 hurt as Grad rocket hits Ashkelon shopping mall
THE JERUSALEM POST

At least 14 people were wounded Wednesday evening, including a baby girl and her mother, when a Grad rocket fired from Gaza hit the Hutzot Shopping Center in Ashkelon.

MDA said that the baby was listed in moderate condition, her mother and two others were seriously wounded, two people were in moderate condition and nine people, including two children, were lightly hurt. Dozens of people were treated for shock. The casualties were evacuated to the city's Barzilai Hospital.

The rocket hit the top floor of the building, where offices and clinics are located, and the shopping mall sustained considerable damage.

Rescue service director Eli Bean said at least two people were trapped under the rubble. They were later rescued and taken to the hospital.

Witnesses said an early warning siren meant to give a few seconds for people to take cover did not sound before the rocket slammed into the mall.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack in a statement on its Web site.

The attack came as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush concluded their meeting in Jerusalem.

Olmert said at the end of the talks that Israel would not tolerate attacks from Gaza terrorists.

"We will not be able to tolerate continuous attacks on innocent civilians. We hope we will not have to act against Hamas in other ways with the military power that Israel hasn't yet started to use in a serious manner in order to stop it," said Olmert before learning of the attack on Ashkelon.

Following the attack, two Kadima faction members called on the government to assassinate Hamas leaders.

"Hamas leaders must be assassinated. We need to prove to Bush and to the world that Israel can fight terror," said MK Shlomo Mula.

Knesset House Committee chairman David Tal, also of Kadima, said that "Israel must sever the hand that is launching rockets at Israel."

Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar said the attack was the result of the government's "continuing weak policy of restraint" that he said was effectively "the abandonment of residents of the South."

He called for a wide-scale military operation in Gaza "in order to restore security to southerners."