Palestinian Government Declares State of Emergency as Many Palestinians Killed in Israeli Attacks

07/07/2006| IslamWeb

The Palestinian government has urged security forces to fight Israeli troops in Gaza after the most violent day since Israel withdrew from the territory last year.

Saeed Seyam, the interior minister, declared a state of emergency on Thursday, according to a spokesman after fighting killed 13 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.

Khalid Abu Hilal, a Hamas minister, told a news conference: "Because of the continuation of bloodshed and Israel's crimes, the minister of interior a few hours ago declared a full state of emergency in the homeland.

"He [Seyam] called on all Palestinian security and military services to participate in the moral, national and religious duty to defend our people ... and to confront this incursion and cowardly Zionist aggression."

However, although some security forces are controlled by Hamas, most are loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and his Fatah movement.

Abbas is officially the only person who can authorise a state of emergency.

Hilal's comments were among the first by Palestinian government officials since the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, ordered tanks to push deeper into Gaza.

Israel's incursion began last week after one of its soldiers was captured, but the offensive was expanded after Hamas militants fired rockets into the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Israel has detained a third of the Hamas cabinet and threatened some of its leaders with assassination, prompting some to go into hiding.

Among the deadliest attacks on Thursday, an Israeli air strike near the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza killed six Palestinian civilians, witnesses and medical staff said.

The army said it had carried out two air strikes against armed militants in the area, killing four gunmen. A spokeswoman said she was unaware of civilian deaths.

Beit Lahiya was also the scene of the heaviest ground fighting, where gunmen from various factions fired anti-tank rockets from narrow alleyways in running battles with Israeli troops who were backed up by tanks and helicopter gunships.

Beit Lahiya's streets were largely deserted as residents sheltered indoors.

"Israeli tanks are outside our house. Children are screaming and the house is shaking. We are caught in the crossfire," one woman told a local radio station.

Aircraft also launched missile strikes near the southern town of Khan Younis.

The Palestinian death toll is the highest in a single day since Israeli forces killed 16 people in October 2004 in a raid on a Khan Younis refugee camp.

PHOTO CAPTION

An injured boy is brought into the Kamal Edwan hospital, following an aerial attack by Israeli forces on Beit Lahiya. (AFP)