Israel Kills Eight Gazans
13, October, 2006
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
GAZA CITY, 13 October 2006 — At least eight Palestinians, two of them children, were killed in Israeli missile attacks in the Gaza Strip yesterday.
Israeli helicopters fired two missiles at a crowd of Palestinians in the early hours yesterday, killing six people including a boy. The missiles were fired during an Israeli incursion of troops and tanks, backed by bulldozers, drones and military helicopters, into the Al-Farheen area of the Gaza Strip. Among the dead were three members of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.
Five of those killed belonged to the same family — bystanders 13-year-old Suheib Iqdah and his 40-year-old father Adel, and the three Al-Qassam Brigades fighters.
After nightfall, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a building in the crowded Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, killing a girl and a fighter. The airstrike targeted a house of a Hamas commander. Doctors said the dead girl was 10 years old. Seven people were wounded, including children, doctors said.
The Israeli military confirmed the earlier airstrike and the launch of a ground operation targeting “tunnels and other terror infrastructure” in the Khan Younis area, saying its troops were periodically coming under fire.
Since June 28, Israel has waged a prolonged offensive in Gaza with the stated goals of retrieving a soldier captured by Palestinians and stopping rocket attacks on its territory. A UN special envoy for human rights, John Dugard, has accused Israel of unleashing “collective punishment” in the territory, declaring last month that some 260 Palestinians had been killed and 800 injured in the operation.
The exiled political leader of Hamas, meanwhile, accused Israel of refusing to free Arab prisoners in exchange for the release of the captured soldier, according to remarks published yesterday. “The idea is to free (Israeli soldier Gilad) Shalit and that Israel would then release detainees in a political context,” Khaled Meshaal said in an interview with the Al-Hayat newspaper.
Meshaal said Hamas wants the release of 1,000 detainees including women and children and that Israel had “refused the principle of an exchange.” The Hamas leader, who lives in exile in Syria, also accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of “hindering the agreement.”
Shalit was captured June 25 by three groups of Palestinian militants, including Hamas, during a cross-border raid between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The captors have demanded that Israel free Arab prisoners in exchange for his return. Shalit’s seizure sparked a massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza, and was followed in July by the separate capture of two more Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Israeli officials have said Meshaal is a marked man for allegedly ordering Shalit’s capture.
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
GAZA CITY, 13 October 2006 — At least eight Palestinians, two of them children, were killed in Israeli missile attacks in the Gaza Strip yesterday.
Israeli helicopters fired two missiles at a crowd of Palestinians in the early hours yesterday, killing six people including a boy. The missiles were fired during an Israeli incursion of troops and tanks, backed by bulldozers, drones and military helicopters, into the Al-Farheen area of the Gaza Strip. Among the dead were three members of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.
Five of those killed belonged to the same family — bystanders 13-year-old Suheib Iqdah and his 40-year-old father Adel, and the three Al-Qassam Brigades fighters.
After nightfall, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a building in the crowded Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City, killing a girl and a fighter. The airstrike targeted a house of a Hamas commander. Doctors said the dead girl was 10 years old. Seven people were wounded, including children, doctors said.
The Israeli military confirmed the earlier airstrike and the launch of a ground operation targeting “tunnels and other terror infrastructure” in the Khan Younis area, saying its troops were periodically coming under fire.
Since June 28, Israel has waged a prolonged offensive in Gaza with the stated goals of retrieving a soldier captured by Palestinians and stopping rocket attacks on its territory. A UN special envoy for human rights, John Dugard, has accused Israel of unleashing “collective punishment” in the territory, declaring last month that some 260 Palestinians had been killed and 800 injured in the operation.
The exiled political leader of Hamas, meanwhile, accused Israel of refusing to free Arab prisoners in exchange for the release of the captured soldier, according to remarks published yesterday. “The idea is to free (Israeli soldier Gilad) Shalit and that Israel would then release detainees in a political context,” Khaled Meshaal said in an interview with the Al-Hayat newspaper.
Meshaal said Hamas wants the release of 1,000 detainees including women and children and that Israel had “refused the principle of an exchange.” The Hamas leader, who lives in exile in Syria, also accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of “hindering the agreement.”
Shalit was captured June 25 by three groups of Palestinian militants, including Hamas, during a cross-border raid between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The captors have demanded that Israel free Arab prisoners in exchange for his return. Shalit’s seizure sparked a massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza, and was followed in July by the separate capture of two more Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hezbollah group.
Israeli officials have said Meshaal is a marked man for allegedly ordering Shalit’s capture.
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 4:06 PM
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