Israeli jet strikes Hamas' weapons factory

Jerusalem, Jan 29 (ANI): Israeli Air Force jet has struck a Hamas' weapons manufacturing facility in the Rafah area in response to a Kassam rocket being fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel.

The air strike was the Israel's first attack on a building inside the Gaza Strip since the end of Operation Cast Lead.

"As the sole authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas bears full responsibility of all terror originating from within its area of control," the Israel Government said in a statement. The Kassam rocket was fired at southern Israel on Wednesday night. It came a day after Gaza operatives breached the cease-fire with a deadly bomb attack along the border, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The rocket hit an open area in the Eshkol region, causing no casualties or damage. ollowing the attack on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that Israel would respond to every act of aggression, also to rockets fired at open areas.

In an official statement released overnight Wednesday, the government reiterated Livni's words, saying that "the IDF will respond to any terror attacks in accordance with decisions made by the Israeli Government."

Haim Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, said that the rocket represented a moment of truth for the government, and called for a firm response to avert the next war.

"During Operation Cast Lead, I and other local authority heads sat with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and told them: 'It does not matter at what stage the military operation ends, what matters is what Israel does after the first rocket is fired,'" Yalin said.

"We have now reached that stage. If the government fails to respond, and says the rocket was fired by a marginal group; we will be faced with another war soon. If we respond as we should, then we can hopefully spare ourselves another war," he added. (ANI)