wiadomosc_z_zrodel_izraelskich
12.06.03, 16:52
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/302577.html
Last Update: 12/06/2003 17:41
6 Palestinians killed, 25 hurt in IDF missile strike in Gaza Strip
By Arnon Regular, Tsahar Rotem, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies
In the fifth air strike in 48 hours, IAF
helicopters on Thursday fired missiles at a car in
Gaza City, killing six people, including an
infant, and wounding 25, doctors said.
Twenty two Palestinians have
been killed so far in the air
strikes, among them at least
six civilian.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said
those killed in Thursday's
airstrike were Yasser Taha, a
member of the Hamas military
wing, Taha's wife, and the
couple's two small children. A baby bottle was
among the items pulled from the burning car.
The car was driving in the Sheik Radwan
neighborhood of Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold,
when it was hit by three missiles, witnesses
said. The car was engulfed by flames. As
bystanders rushed to the rescue, a fourth
missile hit, said Mussallam Amaireh, 52, a
guard at a nearby mosque.
At the time of the strike, the streets were
crowded with mourners who had attended the
nearby funeral of 11 people killed in two
previous missile strikes.
The IDF did not immediately comment on the
strike, which came a day after a Palestinian
suicide bombing killed 16 people on a Jerusalem
bus.
Hamas warns foreigners to leave Israel
Hamas vowed on Thursday to carry out more
attacks inside Israel following a bus bombing
in Jerusalem and warned all foreigners to leave
the country for their own safety.
Hamas had claimed responsibility for the suicide
bombing near the city's main open-air market on
Wednesday that killed 16 people, saying it was
to avenge an Israeli assassination attempt
against one of the Islamic faction's leaders.
"The Jerusalem attack is the beginning of a new
series of revenge attacks... in which we will
target every Zionist occupying our land," Hamas
said in a statement faxed to Reuters. "We call
on international citizens to leave the Zionist
entity immediately to preserve their lives."
Hamas sources said the group was holding to its
policy of not deliberately attacking
foreigners. But Americans, Europeans and Asian
guest laborers have been among those killed in
its bombings during the 32-month-old
Palestinian uprising.
Palestinian militants fired four Qassam rockets
on Thursday from the northern Gaza Strip that
landed in the western Negev. There were no
injuries.
Late Wednesday night, 10 Palestinians were
killed in two separate Israel Air Force
helicopter missile strikes on Gaza City
locations. Attack helicopters fired two
missiles at targets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources reported two people were
killed and five were wounded in the strike.
According to Palestinian sources, the missiles
were fired at the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza
City, where Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin lives.
IDF sources said that the missiles were fired at
a terrorist cell that was about to launch
mortar shells at the nearby Netzarim
settlement.
The two dead were identified by sources in Hamas
as members of the Islamic militant group's Iz a
Din al-Kassam Brigades military wing.
Security officials decided to continue to fight
terror, and especially the Hamas
infrastructure, in a meeting held late
Wednesday at the Defense Ministry, Israel Radio
reported.
The radio quoted security sources as saying that
the the order for the Jerusalem suicide attack
was given several days ago and that it was not
in response to an Israeli attempt to
assassinate senior Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz
al-Rantissi on Tuesday.
Earlier Wednesday, IAF attack helicopters fired
missiles at a vehicle in Gaza City's Saja'iya
neighborhood, shortly after a suicide bombing
in Jerusalem in which 16 people were killed.
The helicopters fired two missiles at a car in
which Hamas militants were traveling.
Palestinian sources said that eight individuals
were killed in the attack, two of them senior
Hamas men. The Hamas members were identified as
Tito Massaoud, 35, and Sufil Abu Nahaz, 29.
The six passersby killed in the missile strike
include two women and four men. The two women
have not yet been identified by Palestinian
medical authorities. The four men killed were
named as Nasser Hamid, 26; Khalil Hamid, 34;
Rami Shatiwi, 28; and Azam Alja'al, who was
23-years-old.
Twenty-five other people were wounded in the
gunship strike. Four of them were listed in
serious condition.
Massaoud was a leader in the Iz a Din al-Kassam
military wing. An Israeli security source said
he was involved in the launching of Qassam
rockets against southern Israel and Jewish
settlements in Gaza.
The vehicle was stuck in a traffic jam, said
shopkeeper Massoud Ramadan, 65, who witnessed
the strike.
