Five reported killed in Gaza weapons raids

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli forces searched for weapons and mortars in three towns in Gaza on Wednesday, and Palestinian officials said five Palestinian police officers were killed during the searches.

The Israel Defense Forces searched the three Palestinian towns in an area from where the IDF believes Palestinians fired a Qassam-2 rocket into Israel. The IDF said weapons were confiscated and arrests were made in Wednesday's operation.

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A Qassam-2 rocket was fired Sunday from Gaza into Israel, prompting concerns of a further escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The rocket has an estimated range of 8 kilometers (5 miles), and Israel has warned that its use in any of its population centers would be a major heightening of the confrontation.

The IDF said its actions Wednesday were in response to the rocket attack and continuing mortar firings and terrorist actions emanating from Gaza. "Given that the Palestinian Authority has not done anything about it, the IDF has had no choice but to conduct this operation," the IDF said.

The IDF said mortar fire was directed Tuesday night at the Erez Crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Palestinian security forces said the Israelis entered Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia and Deir el Balah with tanks and bulldozers.

Three Palestinian police officers were killed during the operation in Deir el Balah and two other police officers were killed in Beit Hanoun, Palestinian security and medical sources said.

The IDF said Palestinians in Beit Lahia fired at the Israeli troops but that no Israeli soldiers were injured in any of the operations.

The Israelis withdrew from all of the towns but Beit Hanoun, which Israel considers a Hamas stronghold, the IDF said. Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization. Its military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military.

On February 6, the Israeli military announced it had seized a shipment of eight Qassam-2 missiles as they were being smuggled by Palestinians between two West Bank cities.

It's believed that the Qassam-2 can be produced quickly. The rocket is considered the next step up from the Qassam-1 and the homemade mortars that Hamas used previously, according to Jeremy Binnie, Middle East editor for Jane's Sentinel Security Assessment in London.

Those mortars had a shorter range, so the Israelis could more easily track them and move quickly to intercept the attackers, Binnie said. But the Qassam-2 rockets -- bearing warheads containing 11 to 15 pounds (5 to 7 kilograms) of explosive material -- could be more difficult to trace.

The Israelis say the missiles, though highly inaccurate, nevertheless leave their population centers exposed to attack.