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Tanks kill 4 { August 29 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9156-2002Aug28.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9156-2002Aug28.html
Israeli Tanks Kill 4 In an Attack in Gaza
Palestinian Woman, Sons Among Victims
By John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, August 29, 2002; Page A22
JERUSALEM, Aug. 29 (Thursday) -- Four members of a Palestinian family, including a woman and two of her sons, were killed early today when Israeli tanks opened fire on a house south of Gaza City, residents and hospital workers said.
It was the most serious incident in the Palestinian territories since efforts began 10 days ago to enact new confidence-building measures that officials hoped would eventually lead to a broader cease-fire in the 23-month Palestinian uprising against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It was unclear what sparked today's tank firing, which occurred shortly after midnight near Sheikh Ajlin, a seaside farming community south of Gaza City and just north of the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. The area was the site of an intensive operation Wednesday by the Israeli military to stop arms smuggling, but Israeli security sources said there was no apparent connection between the two events.
Early today, residents said two tanks entered Sheikh Ajlin and fired about four shells at a two-room house, killing four people and injuring seven others, including a 4-year-old boy. Red Crescent rescue workers described the area where the incident occurred as an encampment of Bedouin farmers.
"Israeli tanks rolled into our area, they were firing everywhere and one house was hit by at least four shells," a resident of the community, Rami Shamalakh, told the Reuters news agency.
Officials at Shifa Hospital said the victims were all from the Alhageen family and included a woman, Huwayda, about 55; two sons, Ashraf and Mohammed; and another relative, also named Mohammed. The three men were in their twenties. Doctors told local reporters that Israeli military forces prevented ambulances from reaching the wounded for about 40 minutes.
Israeli military officials said they knew of no incident Wednesday night or today in which Israeli tanks in the Gaza Strip fired at buildings. They said that late Wednesday night the army fired at a group of suspicious people crawling through an open area toward a military outpost near Netzarim, injuring some of the people.
"It must be emphasized that these suspicious figures were in a place where there shouldn't be Palestinian civilians moving at any time, and particularly not during these late hours," an Israeli military official said.
Meanwhile, another Palestinian man was shot and killed Wednesday near the Jewish settlement area of Gush Katif in southern Gaza. Local residents said the man, a vegetable vendor, was shot by Israeli troops while riding his bicycle, but Israeli military officials said he was shot while trying to scale an army position.
The killings came as Israelis and Palestinians continued to test a new agreement, called Gaza First, under which Israeli troops have pledged to withdraw from areas in the Gaza Strip if Palestinians prevent the areas from being used as staging grounds for attacks on Israel and Jewish settlements.
But the agreement has not been put into effect in the Gaza area, Israeli officials said, because of continuing violence, particularly regular nightly mortar fire at Jewish settlements.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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