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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2019)
A12 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2019 Israel mobilizes after Gaza rocket attack Norway opens probe into why cruise ship ventured into storm By ARON HELLER Associated Press KFAR SABA, Israel — A long-range rocket fi red from the Gaza Strip slammed into a house in central Israel and wounded seven people early today, forcing Prime Minis- ter Benjamin Netanyahu to cut short a high-profi le visit to Washington and prompt- ing the military to deploy troops along Israel’s south- ern border. Netanyahu promised a tough response while Gaza’s Hamas leaders went into hid- ing, setting the stage for a possible major confl agration just two weeks before Israeli elections. The early-morning rocket strike came at a sensitive time for both sides. Net- anyahu, locked in a tight race for re-election, came under heavy criticism from his rivals Monday and faced tough pressure to strike back at Hamas. The Islamic militant group, meanwhile, is fac- ing perhaps its toughest test since seizing control of Gaza 12 years ago. An Israel-Egyptian blockade, imposed to weaken Hamas, combined with sanctions by the rival Palestinian Author- ity and mismanagement by the Hamas government have all fueled an economic crisis. Hamas has been lead- ing weekly protests along the Israeli border for the past year in hopes of easing the blockade, but the demon- strations, in which some 190 people have been killed by Israeli fi re, have done little to improve conditions. Last week, hundreds of Gazans took to the streets to protest the dire conditions, a rare expression of public dis- content, prompting a violent Hamas crackdown that drew heavy public criticism. Although neither side would seem to have an inter- est in a full-fl edged war, they appeared to be on a colli- sion course toward further violence. By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press AP Photo/Ariel Schalit An Israeli police offi cer inspects the damage to a house hit by a rocket. Netanyahu, in Washing- ton to meet President Don- ald Trump, held emergency consultations with military offi cials back in Israel. He said he would return home immediately after the White House meeting, canceling an address to the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby group and meetings with congressional leaders. “There has been a crim- inal attack on the state of Israel and we will respond forcefully,” he said. The sounds of air raid sirens jolted residents of the Sharon area, northeast of Tel Aviv, shortly after 5 a.m., sending them scur- rying to bomb shelters. A strong sound of an explosion followed. The rocket destroyed a residential home in the farm- ing community of Mish- meret, north of the city of Kfar Saba, wounding six members of a family. The Magen David Adom res- cue service said it treated seven people, including two women who were moder- ately wounded. The others, including two children and an infant, had minor injuries. The Israeli military said Hamas militants fi red the rocket from southern Gaza. It said its Iron Dome rock- et-defense system was not activated because the attack in central Israel had not been anticipated. The army added it was reinforcing its missile defense batteries in prepara- tion for an escalation. Maj. Mika Lifshitz, a mil- itary spokeswoman, said it was a self-manufactured rocket with a range of 75 miles, making it one of the deepest rocket strikes ever carried out by Hamas. Lifshitz added that two armor and infantry brigades were being mobilized to the Gaza front and that a limited drafting of reserves was also taking place. The family home in Mish- meret was left in ruins, with tiles, broken furniture and debris scattered about. A shat- tered baby’s crib lay among the rubble and two family dogs died in the explosion. “I nearly lost my fam- ily,” said Robert Wolf, grand- father of the injured resi- dents. “If we hadn’t gotten to the bomb shelter in time, I would now be burying all my family.” Israel and Hamas, a mili- tant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, are bitter ene- mies. They have fought three wars since Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, most recently in 2014, and engaged in doz- ens of minor fl are-ups of fi ghting. Monday’s attack came 10 days after rockets were fi red from Gaza toward Isra- el’s densely populated com- mercial capital of Tel Aviv. The Israeli military at the time struck back and the sides appeared to be hurtling toward another confronta- tion. But Gaza’s Hamas lead- ers said the rocket was fi red accidentally. There was no immedi- ate claim of responsibil- ity for Monday’s attack, but it would seem to be much harder to dismiss the latest incident as another misfi re. Israel holds Hamas respon- sible for all rocket fi re out of Gaza. A possible trigger could have been a prison riot late Sunday when Hamas-af- fi liated inmates stabbed an Israeli guard in the neck in southern Israel. Guards moved in to subdue the riot- ers, wounding about a dozen prisoners, three of them seri- ously. In a statement, Hamas called for an end to the crackdown. COPENHAGEN, Den- mark — Norwegian offi - cials have opened an inves- tigation into why a cruise ship carrying more than 1,370 people set sail along the country’s often wild western coast despite storm warnings, forcing a major evacuation by helicopter. One person is in critical but stable condition in an intensive care ward, hospi- tal offi cials said, adding that eight others were still hos- pitalized after the weekend ordeal. The Viking Sky had left the northern city of Tromsoe and was headed for Stavan- ger in southern Norway when it had engine prob- lems and issued a mayday call on Saturday afternoon. The ship anchored in heavy seas to avoid being dashed on the rocks in an area known for shipwrecks. Norwegian authorities then launched a daring rescue operation despite the high winds, eventually winching 479 passengers off the ship by helicopter in an opera- tion that went on for hours Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Dag S. Liseth of Nor- way’s Accident Investiga- tions Board said “the high risk which the ship, its pas- sengers and crew were exposed to made us decide to investigate the incident.” After about half of the ship’s passengers were taken off, the captain made the decision mid-day Sun- day to halt the evacuation. About 900 people were still on board when the ship limped into the port city of Molde on its own engines. Viking Ocean Cruises said Monday it had begun “an internal investigation .... to establish a complete and thorough understanding of what happened,” and wel- come the offi cial investiga- tions which they “will fully support.” In the same statement, Viking Ocean Cruises chair- man Torstein Hagen also said he “would like to per- sonally apologize for what our guests experienced.” Liseth said investiga- tors were heading to Molde today and declined to spec- ulate why the Viking Sky captain had decided to sail to Stavanger in the fi rst place despite the weather warning. He couldn’t imme- diately say how long the cruise ship would remain in Molde. Yngve Skovly, of the police force in Moere and Romsdal district, where Molde sits, said there is no suspicion of a crimi- nal offense but police have opened an investigation to fi nd out why the ship had engine problems. That probe would be part of the one by the Accident Investi- gations Board. The Viking Sky is a rel- atively new ship, delivered in 2017 to operator Viking Ocean Cruises. The ship was on a 12-day cruise along Norway’s coast before its scheduled arrival Tuesday in the Brit- ish port of Tilbury, on the River Thames. The pas- sengers were mostly an English-speaking mix of American, British, Cana- dian, New Zealand and Australian citizens. All the cruise ship pas- sengers were expected to be fl own out of Norway by this evening, police said. Viking Sky’s next trip, to Scandinavia and Germany, which was to leave on Wednesday, has been can- celed but its owner said no other trip cancellations for the ship were foreseen yet. e Com e Se y d Wen in ! on s r e P GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION WEEKEND APRIL 12 TH - APRIL 14 TH SOUTHWEST CORNER OF ENSIGN LANE AND U.S. HIGHWAY 101
