After 15 Palestinians Killed in Last Few Days Hamas to Hit Back
10/04/2006| IslamWeb
The armed wing of the governing Palestinian movement Hamas, under huge international pressure to renounce violence, yesterday vowed to avenge a weekend of Israeli strikes which has left 15 people dead.
The latest victim was a 29-year-old taxi driver, Yasser Abu Jarad, killed by a tank shell by a national security post in the Beit Hanun region of the northern Gaza Strip as he dropped off members of a military unit.
A total of 21 other people were also wounded in shelling in the north, including 10 when a house in Jabaliya was hit, which came as part of efforts by the Israeli army to put a halt to the firing of rockets into southern Israel.
A series of air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday night and Saturday left 14 people dead, making it much the deadliest bout of violence since Hamas's victory in a January election and subsequent formation of its first government last month.
The US and European Union announced over the weekend that they were either cutting or suspending direct aid payments to the already cash-strapped Palestinian Authority now that it is led by Hamas in the absence of a change in its hardline platform.
However, the prospects of a Hamas u-turn looked particularly dim yesterday after its armed wing, the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, vowed to avenge the Israeli attacks.
"The Zionist enemy will pay a high price and will drink from the same cup from which our people drink day and night," the group said in a statement.
Hamas's Interior Minister Said Siam urged all the armed factions to exercise caution, telling them to steer clear of training camps after one such base was bombed. "It is clear that the camps are targets of the occupation forces," said Siam.
Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad lambasted the EU and US for pressuring the Hamas-led administration while staying silent about Israel's tactics.
"Israel is deliberately trying to sow confusion and paralyse our government in its first days," he said.
The Palestinian Authority would contact UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a bid to rein in Israel, he added.
Meanwhile, two female students at a West Bank university were wounded yesterday when Israeli troops opened fire during an incursion into the city of Nablus, medical sources said.
A 21-year-old student at An-Najah university was seriously wounded when she was hit in the face while her friend, aged 20, was also hit.
The shooting broke out after a group of youngsters began to stone a convoy of about 20 jeeps and armoured cars which had entered into the centre of the city. Israeli troops also killed a senior Palestinian militant during a shootout that erupted as they tried to arrest the man, the army said.
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