Katyusha Attack From Gaza a Significant Escalation in Palestinian Terrorism

On Tuesday a 122mm Katyusha rocket, manufactured in Iran, was fired from Gaza at the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Normally, the range of this caliber Katyusha is approximately 20km, but due to a faulty launch, it landed after traveling just 5.5km. Islamic Jihad - which maintains its headquarters in Damascus - claimed responsibility, and fortunately there were no injuries.

This was a new threshold for Palestinian terrorists as it was the first time a Katyusha was fired from Gaza into Israeli territory. Israel warned the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the international community concerning the threat of infiltration of sophisticated weaponry into Gaza following disengagement. Unfortunately, this danger has been realized as the Palestinians continue to expand and enhance their terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, and deploy weapons which extend the reach of terrorism ever deeper into Israeli territory.

Common sense tells us that the strategic threat to Israel rises proportionally to the increase in range of Palestinian rocket fire, as more civilian and sensitive targets like power stations fall within reach of these weapons. It's important to remember that even though Hamas is in power, the Palestinian Authority bears full responsibility for preventing terrorist attacks against Israel.

This Katyusha attack, coming just one day before the creation of the new Palestinian government, is a clear indication of the growing potential terrorist attacks as the Palestinian Authority becomes the Authority of Palestinian Terrorism.

Below we have produced a chart from our analysis of the escalation in weaponry being used by Palestinian terror organizations since 2001.

	Diameter of Warhead	Length	Weight	Range	Guidance System	Explosive Charge
Qassam I	60mm	31”	12 lbs.	3 km	Unguided	1 lb.
Qassam II	150mm	6’	70 lbs.	8 km	Unguided	11-15 lbs.
Qassam III	170mm	6’7”	200 lbs.	10 km	Unguided	22-44 lbs.
Katyusha	122mm	9’	150 lbs.	20 km	Unguided	45 lbs.