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Israeli warplanes strike home hamas leader { September 10 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Israeli Warplanes Strike Home of Hamas Leader
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes on Wednesday flattened the home of a Hamas (search) leader Mahmoud Zahar (search), wounding him and killing his son and a bodyguard, in retaliation for twin homicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis a day earlier.
In targeting Zahar's home, Israel signaled a further escalation in its campaign against the Islamic militant group. Israel has killed 12 Hamas members in air strikes in the past three weeks, but Wednesday marked the first time it attacked a Hamas leader in his home.
Tuesday's homicide bombings went off five hours apart, first at a bus stop crowded with soldiers near Tel Aviv, then at a popular Jerusalem coffee house. Dozens of bystanders were maimed and wounded in the attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (search) cut short a visit to India, and was to hold security consultations immediately upon landing early Thursday. Two strategic decisions -- whether to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat or order a large-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip -- will be on the agenda, a security official said on condition of anonymity.
In meetings with security chiefs overnight, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz (search) decided to intensify targeted killings of Hamas leaders. Mofaz and his advisers were in session when they received word of the Jerusalem bombing.
Hamas has stopped short of claiming responsibility, but the group had threatened unprecedented revenge for Israel's failed attempt to kill Hamas leaders, including founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, in an air strike over the weekend.
The Israeli military on Wednesday raided the West Bank village of Rantis, and arrested 15 members of the Abu Isleem clan. Villagers said they believe two young men from the clan, both Hamas supporters, carried out Tuesday's bombings. The two -- Ramez Abu Isleem, 24, and Ihab Abdel Kader, 20 -- disappeared last week, villagers said. Hamas did not announce the names of the bombers.
Less than 12 hours after the attack on the Jerusalem coffee house, Israeli warplanes bombed the home of Zahar, a senior official in Hamas, flattening the two-story structure. Witnesses said Zahar was not indoors, but was nearby at the time.
Zahar's bodyguard and a 29-year-old son Khaled were killed in the bombing, hospital officials said. Twenty-five people were wounded, including three women and five children. Rescue workers were digging through the rubble to search for possible survivors.
Hospital officials initially said three of Zahar's family members were killed, but the first body to be identified was that of Zahar's 30-year-old bodyguard and only one other body had arrived at the hospital morgue.
An ambulance driver, Rami Salameh, said he evacuated Zahar.
"When I moved him to the stretcher with the help of other people, he screamed from pain in his back, but he was talking to us, saying `I'm okay, I'm okay," Salameh said.
Israel's military has relentlessly targeted Hamas militants since the group claimed a homicide bombing last month that killed 22 people on a Jerusalem bus. On Tuesday, Israeli troops in Hebron killed two Hamas members -- including the group's leader in the West Bank city -- and a 12-year-old bystander, and blew up a seven-story apartment building where the militants were hiding out.
The violence underscored the collapse of U.S.-backed peace efforts and came amid political uncertainty after the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Tuesday's first bombing came about 6 p.m., as soldiers were waiting for rides home outside the Tsrifin army base near the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion.
Cpl. Eyal Schneider, 20, was walking toward the bus stop when he heard the explosion and saw a fireball. "People were running from the bus stop shouting 'bomb! bomb!"' he said.
Police and hospital officials said eight were killed in addition to the bomber. Fifteen people were being treated at the hospital, all but one of them soldiers.
Leaders of Hamas praised the attacks. "This operation, whoever is behind it, is a natural reaction for the bloody aggression against our people," said Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who survived an Israeli attempt on his life in June.
Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner said "the responsibility is shared between the organization that carried out the atrocity and the Palestinian Authority that did nothing to prevent it, and Israel will react accordingly."
More than five hours later, about 11:20 p.m., another homicide bomber entered the Hillel Cafe, a popular bistro in the posh German colony neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Police said the bomber managed to get into the cafe even though two security guards were posted at the entrance -- one inside the door and one outside. Police said one of the guards saw the bomber and tried to stop him. Seven cafe patrons were killed.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, speaking outside a fund raiser for President Bush in Florida, called the homicide bombings "vicious attacks" and condemned them in the "strongest possible terms."
McClellan said Bush remained committed to the "road map" peace plan, but he said the bombings "underscore the need to fight terrorism and the need to dismantle terrorist organizations and groups like Hamas."
Ahmed Qureia, who has been nominated to replace Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian prime minister, expressed "our regrets and pain for the innocent lives (lost) as a result of violence and counter-violence" and called on Israeli leaders to "search for ways to end this killing."
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