IDF troops kill 13 Palestinians in Gaza

[Gość: AIYSHA]

IDF troops kill 13 Palestinians in Gaza

By Haaretz Service and news agencies



IDF troops killed 12 Palestinians and wounded at least 50 in an exchange of
fire in a neighborhood at the easterm edge of Gaza City Wednesday,
Palestinian witnesses and medics said. Another Palestinian was killed in an
operation in the southern Gaza Strip, on the border between Israel and
Egypt.




Among the dead were Mohammed Hilles, 18, the son of Ahmed Hilles, the top
leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza. The family lives in the
area. Four of those killed were armed. They included Hani Abu Skhaila, a
senior Hamas activist who had survived an Israeli attempt to kill him in the
past, said residents.

Two civilians were killed, and seven of the wounded were in critical
condition, doctors said. The wounded included at least three boys who were
hit as they watched the battle from side streets, witnesses and doctors said.

When Abu Skhaila's death was announced at a Gaza hospital, Hamas militants
in camouflage uniforms waiting outside fired guns in the air and yelled "God
is great" before jumping in a car to return to the fighting, witnesses said.

In response to the attacks, Hamas called for a massive wave of suicide
attacks against Israeli targets.

"The leadership ... calls on all its fighting cells in Jerusalem, Hebron,
Nablus, Bethlehem, Jenin, Tulkarem and Gaza and in all the towns and
villages to respond quickly to hit all the enemy positions it can reach with
huge martyr operations," the group said in a statement.


The IDF said troops fired in response to anti-tank missiles shot at tanks in
the operation to search for militants responsible for firing rockets at
nearby Jewish settlements. Troops hit at least 17 militants who had fired at
them or were planting explosives, the army said.

Forces, including more than 10 tanks and several armored bulldozers, also
moved into the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border, residents said.
In addition to the fatality, five Palestinians were injured in exchanges of
fire in the area, they said.

The military said soldiers were looking for tunnels used by Palestinians to
smuggle in weapons.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, forces also carried out arrest
operations in the northern Gaza Strip against militants suspected of
planting roadside bombs and firing mortar shells into nearby Israeli towns.
During the course of the operation, an anti-tank rocket was fired at troops,
but no injuries were reported.