One Palestinian killed, Israel steps up shelling of Gaza
April 4, 2006
A Palestinian man clears the rubble on the roof of a house hit by an Israeli artillery shell in Beit Lahia. One Palestinian was killed and nine others wounded as Israel subjected the Gaza Strip to a series of raids, including a strike on the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the territory. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)
One Palestinian was killed and nine others wounded as Israel subjected the Gaza Strip to a series of raids, including a strike on the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the territory.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, who was in the West Bank at the time, condemned the strikes and called on the international community to intervene to stop what he called Israel's escalation.
The dead man, Abdallah al-Daalsa, 42, was killed as he stood in a field in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
Another seven people, including a six-month-old baby, were wounded by shrapnel, security and medical sources said. Four of those injured were inside a house struck by a shell and two of them were in a critical condition.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that artillery had shelled areas of northern Gaza that Palestinian militants use for firing rockets into Israel.
"According to our information nothing landed outside those open areas but I can't deny 100 percent that we didn't hit house," she told AFP.
The military has stepped up artillery shelling of a self-declared "no-go zone" in northern Gaza since an unprecedented attack last week with a Katyusha rocket, which has a much longer range than the normal makeshift missiles.
Tuesday's killing brings to 4,997 the number of people killed since the eruption of the intifada in September 2000, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count.
News of the latest death came hours after the air strike on the Palestinian Authority compound in Gaza City.
A military spokeswoman said Israel launched the attack to "send a message" to the Palestinians that it does not tolerate the continued firing of rockets into the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli aircraft fired two missiles into the helicopter pad of the Palestinian Authority headquarters by the seafront, gouging two craters out of the tarmac, an AFP reporter said.
Two police officers were wounded by shrapnel, security sources said.
The Palestinian Authority owns two helicopters. Neither was on the helipad at the time, but one of them was in a nearby hangar.
Abbas condemned the air strike and called on the international community to intervene to stop the violence, in a statement issued by his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"Continued arbitrary shelling in Gaza is an unjustified escalation," he later told reporters.
"They (Israel) are trying to complicate the life of Palestinians and finish destroying Palestinian institutions after destroying so many in previous years.
"I address myself to Arab countries, the UN, Russia and the European Union to explain that these acts complicate the lives of Palestinians and have serious repercussions on the humanitarian, social and economic situation."
An Israeli military spokeswoman said a wave of air strikes was ordered after Palestinian militants fired four rockets that exploded near Israeli communities without causing damage or casualties.
"We attacked an open area that it is unpopulated inside Gaza City. There was no intention of attacking the building that is near it," she told AFP.
"We wanted to pass a message. We want to make it understood that Israel and the IDF (army) will not tolerate the firing of Qassam rockets," she added.
Israeli strikes have repeatedly failed to put a halt to the rocket attacks, with the armed wing of the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad claiming to have fired five rockets towards the southern town of Ashkelon on Tuesday. The army could confirm four rockets had been fired without causing injuries or damage.
A Palestinian man clears the rubble on the roof of a house hit by an Israeli artillery shell in Beit Lahia. One Palestinian was killed and nine others wounded as Israel subjected the Gaza Strip to a series of raids, including a strike on the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the territory. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)
One Palestinian was killed and nine others wounded as Israel subjected the Gaza Strip to a series of raids, including a strike on the Palestinian Authority headquarters in the territory.
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas, who was in the West Bank at the time, condemned the strikes and called on the international community to intervene to stop what he called Israel's escalation.
The dead man, Abdallah al-Daalsa, 42, was killed as he stood in a field in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.
Another seven people, including a six-month-old baby, were wounded by shrapnel, security and medical sources said. Four of those injured were inside a house struck by a shell and two of them were in a critical condition.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that artillery had shelled areas of northern Gaza that Palestinian militants use for firing rockets into Israel.
"According to our information nothing landed outside those open areas but I can't deny 100 percent that we didn't hit house," she told AFP.
The military has stepped up artillery shelling of a self-declared "no-go zone" in northern Gaza since an unprecedented attack last week with a Katyusha rocket, which has a much longer range than the normal makeshift missiles.
Tuesday's killing brings to 4,997 the number of people killed since the eruption of the intifada in September 2000, most of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count.
News of the latest death came hours after the air strike on the Palestinian Authority compound in Gaza City.
A military spokeswoman said Israel launched the attack to "send a message" to the Palestinians that it does not tolerate the continued firing of rockets into the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli aircraft fired two missiles into the helicopter pad of the Palestinian Authority headquarters by the seafront, gouging two craters out of the tarmac, an AFP reporter said.
Two police officers were wounded by shrapnel, security sources said.
The Palestinian Authority owns two helicopters. Neither was on the helipad at the time, but one of them was in a nearby hangar.
Abbas condemned the air strike and called on the international community to intervene to stop the violence, in a statement issued by his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"Continued arbitrary shelling in Gaza is an unjustified escalation," he later told reporters.
"They (Israel) are trying to complicate the life of Palestinians and finish destroying Palestinian institutions after destroying so many in previous years.
"I address myself to Arab countries, the UN, Russia and the European Union to explain that these acts complicate the lives of Palestinians and have serious repercussions on the humanitarian, social and economic situation."
An Israeli military spokeswoman said a wave of air strikes was ordered after Palestinian militants fired four rockets that exploded near Israeli communities without causing damage or casualties.
"We attacked an open area that it is unpopulated inside Gaza City. There was no intention of attacking the building that is near it," she told AFP.
"We wanted to pass a message. We want to make it understood that Israel and the IDF (army) will not tolerate the firing of Qassam rockets," she added.
Israeli strikes have repeatedly failed to put a halt to the rocket attacks, with the armed wing of the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad claiming to have fired five rockets towards the southern town of Ashkelon on Tuesday. The army could confirm four rockets had been fired without causing injuries or damage.
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 2:12 AM
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