Israel Kills Five Palestinians During Raid

20/04/2004| IslamWeb

Five Palestinians were shot dead Tuesday by Israeli fire during a raid to the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanon. Mutasam Rafiq Nassir, 18, was killed in after he was hit by bullets in the head. Another Palestinian died afternoon of wounds he sustained a few hours earlier when Israeli forces stormed al-Nada residential buildings, west of Beit Hanoun city, medical sources said. They said that Khaldon Abu Jarad was shot with a live bullet in the head. A third Palestinian, identified as Muhammed Rayan was declared dead in the afternoon. Later two other Palestinians - Muhammad Ibrahim al Tanani, 19, and Muhammad al Hanawi - were shot dead. At least 32 Palestinians were wounded. One Israeli officer and three soldiers were lightly wounded in the area, including one from an explosive device, Israeli sources said. Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers arrested Tuesday several Palestinians and imposed a curfew on the Silwad village of the West Bank city of Ramallah. According to WAFA news agency, the Israeli army stormed into the Silwad village, closed all its entrances and imposed a tight curfew. Israeli troops began a door-to-door search campaign and arrested several men leading them all to an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, also in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers arrested early Tuesday eight Palestinians in Jenin, Bethlehem and Nablus, witnesses said. In Jenin, troops stormed several villages and arrested three civilians, witnesses told WAFA. They said that the soldiers arrested two brothers - Yehya 34, and Hamza, 31 al Sawky after storming their house in Kufr Dan village. Israeli forces also incurred into al-Zawya village, broke into a number of civilian houses and arrested 17-year-old Talal Kadwra. In Nablus, meanwhile, Israeli troops arrested three civilians in the Rafidya neighbourhood, witnesses said. They confirmed that Israeli soldiers, backed by military vehicles, incurred into the neighbourhood amid intensive and random shooting and launched a house to-house search campaign, arresting Ibrahim Abu Laban, 31 and Omar Mansour, 20. They were led into an unknown place. In the city neighbourhood of Ras al-Ein, Israeli troops arrested a civilian after besieging a residential building, Palestinian security sources said. They confirmed that Nabil Akoob was arrested after the troops opened fire at the building. In Bethlehem, troops also arrested two civilians in Taqqo'a town, witnesses said. Residents said Israeli troops stormed the town and arrested Abed al-Sabah 21, and Sharif Atwa 24, who were led into an unknown place as well. In the Gaza Stip, Palestinians fired two mortars at the Nissanit settlement in the Gaza Strip. Two settlers were lightly injured in the attack and a house in the settlement was damaged, according to Israeli media reports. Also Tuesday, four Qassam rocket landed in an open field near the southern town of Sderot, and in a settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported. There were no injuries in these incidents, the radio said. The firing came a day after seven settlers - including two children - were lightly wounded when a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinians hit a residential building in Nissanit. Meanwhile, Syria-based Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, on Monday urged for an Arab and Muslim alliance to defeat Israel and the US. "Our battle is with two sides, one of them is the strongest power in the world, the United States, and the second is the strongest power in the region (Israel)," Reuters cited him as saying to a crowd of hundreds at the al-Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus. "That is the caliber of the battle. We will not be victorious unless the other side of the battle is Arab and Muslim. All of the Arabs and Muslims," he said at a memorial ceremony for Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas' Gaza leader assassinated by Israel on Saturday. Mashal further vowed Hamas would avenge the assassination of Rantissi and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement's founder and spiritual leader, who was killed last month in Gaza. The Hamas politburo chief vowed Palestinians would "turn earth on their heads, God willing." The Israelis live "in horror...ahead of our response, during it and after it," he said. "Do not worry, there will be a response and resistance will continue, God willing." He called on the leaders of 22 Arab states and more than 30 non-Arab Muslim countries to "make an alliance, even a temporary one...to combine capabilities against the enemy." "The problem is in us and not in the balance of power...if the (Islamic) nation would fight the same way (Palestinians and Iraqis) are fighting in Rafah, Jenin and Fallujah then by God we will defeat both the United States and Israel," he said. Arab and Muslim people "have a great duty and I do not want to tell them what to do... God will ask Arabs and Muslims what are they doing while the sons of Palestine are doing their duties," he said. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinian mourners carry the body of Mutassem Nassir during his funeral in Beit Hanun. (AFP)