Thousands Turn Out for Ismail Abu Shanab Funeral, Zionist Troops Kill Three Palestinians

22/08/2003| IslamWeb

More than 100,000 Palestinians turned out for the funeral of assassinated leader as the conflict with Zionists seemed headed for a major escalation after the collapse of a seven-week-old truce. Chanting anti-Israeli slogans, the demonstrators packed the streets of Gaza City Friday for the funeral of Ismail Abu Shanab, who died with two bodyguards in a volley of Israeli rocketfire. Sheikh Ahmad Bahar, a senior Hamas official, addressed the largest such gathering since the Palestinian uprising started nearly three years ago and warned Israel that Abu Shanab's death only strengthened his movement. "The Zionist criminals thought they would terrorize us, but we are warning them and the world that although we mourn the loss of a leader, we have gained hundreds of thousands of mujahedeen," he said. Hamas and the group Islamic Jihad earlier issued a joint statement calling off the truce they declared on June 29 and blaming Israel for the upsurge in violence with the complicity of its US allies. The statement came a day after Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, who himself escaped an Israeli assault in June, vowed that Israeli cities would be "filled with blood" in reprisal. **Israeli Troops Kill Three Palestinians*** Meanwhile, Israeli occupation troops on Friday afternoon shot dead three Palestinians in an operation in the West Bank city of Nablus. Witnesses said the three Palestinians were sheltering in a small rooftop room of Rafidya hospital in Nablus. Soldiers shot at the room, killing the three. They said Israeli soldiers were surrounding the hospital. Israeli security sources said soldiers shot at armed Palestinians wanted by Israel for their involvement in recent attacks against Israelis. Palestinian sources identified the three men as members of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Zionist soldiers carry tank shells as they build up forces outside the Gaza Strip, Friday Aug. 22, 2003. (AP Photo/Gadi Kabalo