8 Killed in Israeli Incursion into Gaza

03/03/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli occupation troops entered the Nusseirat and Bureij refugee camps in the central part of the Gaza Strip early Monday, witnesses said, killing eight people and destroying two houses. The incursion followed pledges by Israeli officials to crack down on resistance activists from the Palestinian resistance Hamas group.

The Israeli occupation army would say only that an operation was in progress. Palestinians said at least two of those killed were civilians - a 14-year-old boy shot dead and a woman whose house collapsed from the force of the blast next door.

The bodies of the dead were still in the camp, residents said, and dozens of people wounded from Israeli gunfire were lying untreated in the streets.

Two Palestinians were killed in an overnight raid in the town of Khan Younis, in which Israeli occupation forces destroyed buildings near an internationally illegal Jewish settlement.

At the funerals of the two men later Sunday, a 9-year-old boy died from gunfire Palestinian doctors said he was shot by Israeli occupation troops who opened fire after resistance men fired weapons in the air, a common practice during funerals.

Witnesses said the focus of the latest incursion was the Bureij camp, where occupation soldiers blew up two houses after demanding that residents leave. One house belonged to Mohammed Taha, the local Hamas leader who was later arrested together with his son.

The occupation army appeared to be continuing the offensive triggered two weeks ago by a Hamas attack on an Israeli tank that killed the four-man crew.

Occupation Army Meets Tough Resistance in Gaza

According to the source, Israeli occupation forces met fierce resistance. Firefights erupted with resistance men who used a school, a hospital and a mosque as cover when firing on occupation troops. In one incident, several resistance men were seen crawling on the floor of the emergency room in the town's Nasser Hospital as shots were heard outside. Witnesses said resistance men were not firing from the hospital, but were pinned down by Israeli fire as they accompanied wounded friends.

Occupation troops also demolished an eight-story apartment. Several abandoned structures used by resistance men were also torn down. Palestinians said 85 tenants were made homeless.

After daybreak, residents of the apartment building rummaged through the rubble for their belongings.

The owner of the apartment building, Mohammed Akher, 42, said Israel was only increasing resentment. "If they thought that destroying and killing people will bring security and calm they are mistaken. It will increase the bloody cycle of violence and violence will bring more violence," said Akher.

Extreme Rightist Government Takes Office

The violence came after Israel's new Cabinet ministers officially took office on Sunday, bringing to power a hawkish government that appears set to continue using brutal military measures to suppress a 29-month-old Palestinian uprising.

Israeli war Minister Shaul Mofaz, on a tour of Israeli occupation army positions near the West Bank city of Nablus, said military operations would intensify.

Mofaz is one of the few ministers from Sharon's first Cabinet to retain his job.

The team he fashioned last week, after his Likud won January elections, includes the hawkish National Religious Party and National Union, which oppose the creation of a Palestinian state. The more moderate Shinui Party is also in the coalition, but for the moment it is not pressing Sharon for any peace initiatives.

Palestinian Resistance Plan to Assassinate Sharon Aborted

On Sunday, Israel defense minister pledged to step up assaults on Hamas resistance activists on a day when three Palestinians were shot and killed in the Gaza Strip and Israeli media reported that Hamas resistance men had planed to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Israeli media on Sunday reported the arrest in Bethlehem of a member of a Hamas cell that allegedly planned to explode a bomb near Sharon's motorcade and to attack a synagogue. The reports said the activist, identified as Fahdi Murtaja, was arrested on Feb. 7.

Neither the Israeli government nor Hamas had any immediate comment.

PA Asks Israel for Travel Permits

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority asked Israel for travel permits for members of the PLO's Central Council and the Palestinian legislature - the bodies that will determine the responsibilities of a Palestinian prime minister, the new position Yasser Arafat has reluctantly agreed to create.

Mideast mediators have pressured Arafat to share power to further a U.S.-backed plan for Palestinian statehood by 2005. The Central Council meets March 10 and the legislature March 12.

Israel is reviewing the names of the 124 Central Council members and 88 legislators and will deny travel permits to those directly involved in violence against Israel, Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said Sunday.

Bush Promises to Focus on Mideast Peace After Iraq

President Bush last week said that after the Iraq crisis is settled it will concentrate on ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said the Palestinians must end violence and replace their leadership - but also urged Israel to move quickly toward establishing a viable Palestinian state and stop building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians carry the body of Mahmoud Abed Hadi, 27, during his funeral after Israeli occupation troops backed by tanks and attack helicopters raided Khan Younis a Gaza Strip town Sunday March 2, 2003. (AP Photo/Karel P