ROCKET ATTACK WOUNDS 69

Hamas: Kassam attack on IDF training base 'a victory from God' (LGF)
A Hamas spokesman praised Tuesday's rocket attack on an Israeli army base, calling it a "victory from God."

"We consider this a victory from God for the resistance," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Hamas radio. "We consider the resistance as the legitimate right of the Palestinians to defend themselves and restore their rights."

The rocket strike, which wounded 69 IDF soldiers, was followed by a mortar barrage on the Gaza border. The Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the attacks, and the Islamic Jihad later posted a video on its website purportedly showing the Kassam rocket launch.

Although Hamas was not directly involved, Israel has said it holds the group responsible for attacks out of Gaza because it rules the area.

"It doesn't matter which terror group took responsibility. Gaza is totally controlled by Hamas, and it has the ability to stop this and decided not to," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a news conference. "I think we have tools to do this, tools that are not only military," said Livni.

Although nobody was wounded in the mortar attack, the incident will undoubtedly add to the calls for action, which reached a fever pitch following the earlier Kassam strike.



A Palestinian Islamic Jihad supporter distributes sweets as he celebrates the rocket attack on an Israeli army base in a street in Gaza City, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)