3 Palestinians Killed in Gaza Incursion

15/05/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli troops raided a town in northern Gaza early Thursday in one of the largest operations in recent months, launched just days before the first Israeli-Palestinian summit in nearly three years. Three Palestinians were killed, including two gunmen and a 12-year-old boy who doctors said was left bleeding for three hours because troops prevented paramedics from reaching the scene. The boy, who had a head wound, was eventually carried to an ambulance and died on the way to the hospital, doctors said. The military had no comment, but troops in the past have kept ambulances from combat zones. The incursion, a response to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, targeted the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. It came on "Naqba Day," when Palestinians mark the anniversary of their displacement during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Naqba is Arabic for catastrophe. Beit Hanoun resident Marwan Shabat, 55, a schoolteacher, said troops broke into his home, smashed furniture and beat three of his sons. "If the occupiers think they can uproot us from our town, they are mistaken," he said. The operation came as Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, prepared to meet Saturday night, the highest-level meeting in three years. On the agenda is an international peace plan called the "road map," a three-year, three-stage blueprint beginning with a halt to 31 months of Mideast 'violence' and leading to creation of a Palestinian state. Israel insists that before it makes any peace moves, the Palestinians must crack down on violent groups responsible for attacks against Israelis. However, a senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday that the new Palestinian government headed by Abbas would not move against the Palestinian fighters unless Israel first formally accepts the "road map" plan. Israel has presented 15 objections to the plan. Sharon is to discuss the points with President Bush in talks next week in Washington. The Gaza incursion began before dawn Thursday. Military officials said the goal was to stop the firing of homemade rockets into Israel. Witnesses said about 70 armored vehicles were involved in the incursion. Israeli forces blew up three houses and leveled two more with bulldozers. All five homes belonged to Hamas members. The group has claimed responsibility for most of the rocket attacks. Residents said Israeli snipers were posted on the roofs of seven buildings in Beit Hanoun, and soldiers conducted house-to-house searches. They said soldiers with loudspeakers instructed Palestinians to stay in their houses. Israeli tanks also moved to surround the nearby town of Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp between Beit Lahiya and Gaza City. Israel cut off electricity to the area, they said. Troops built makeshift fortifications in front of tanks as bulldozers flattened farmland between Beit Hanoun and the border fence, witnesses said. Palestinian fighters use the area to fire Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot, less than a half-mile from the fence dividing Israel and Gaza. Several rockets were fired Wednesday, and on Tuesday a rocket started a fire in the town, slightly injuring three Israelis. Israeli forces have entered the same area several times in the past, trying to prevent Palestinians from firing rockets over the fence at Israeli villages. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinians carry a wounded man during an Israeli army operation in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun Thursday May 15, 2003. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)