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Nine palestinians dead { March 17 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Nine Palestinians Killed in Israeli Raids
Monday, March 17, 2003
NUSSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops firing from tanks and helicopters battled dozens of Palestinian gunmen in a four-hour raid of this crowded shantytown Monday. Seven Palestinians, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed in intense fighting.
In a separate raid, Israel seized parts of the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. Two Palestinian policemen manning a checkpoint were killed, and about 700 teenage boys and men were taken for questioning to the town square, witnesses said.
The fighting came hours after an Israeli army bulldozer killed U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie -- the first international peace protester killed in 29 months of violence -- while demolishing a building near the Gaza-Egypt border. The army said the driver couldn't see Corrie because the windows in the bulldozer's cab are small.
In the West Bank town of Ramallah, Yasser Arafat asked the Palestinian parliament to amend the prime minister's bill -- and lawmakers disagreed over whether he was trying to weaken the new post or seeking minor procedural changes.
Israeli forces entered the Nusseirat refugee camp as residents headed to the mosques for morning prayers and farmers began harvesting their crops to take to the Gaza City market, witnesses said.
The main target of the raid was Mohammed Saafen, 34, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group in central Gaza. Undercover troops surrounded the Saafen family's four-story house, and ordered residents to come out, said a neighbor, Hazem Khatib. All did, except for the wanted man who shot at troops, drawing return fire, the neighbor said.
Saafen's 75-year-old father suffered a gunshot wound in the leg. Several neighbors, including Khatib, claimed the elderly man was deliberately shot by a soldier trying to force the fugitive to surrender. The army had no comment.
The wanted man was killed in the gun battle, and soldiers blew up the house.
Fighting also erupted elsewhere in the camp, with troops firing machine guns from helicopters and tanks toward gunmen hiding in alleys and shacks.
In one three-room, doorless hut shared by 35 members of the Assar family, women and children huddled as the fighting raged outside. Four-year-old Ihlam Assar was killed by tank fire, said her aunt, Itmead.
"All the children gathered near the kitchen while the tanks were firing outside, from all directions," said the aunt. "The girl (Ihlam) was standing next to my daughter when she got a bullet in her chest, leaving her in a pool of blood among the scared children."
"I could do nothing to evacuate her from the place or to protect my children or her brothers and sisters," Assar said.
Another camp resident, Naima Jabber, 39, said "bullets were raining from the sky," and that she and her 12 children hid under the stairs.
An Israeli army commander in the area insisted that the Israeli fire was precise and that no civilians were killed by his troops. "They (Palestinian gunmen) fire in every direction with the goal of hitting us and if they hit their own people, so be it," said the commander who only gave his rank and first name, Lt. Col. Adam.
In all, seven Palestinians were killed in Nusseirat -- four gunmen, two teenage boys ages 13 and 17, and the 4-year-old girl. Hospital officials said 25 residents were wounded.
The military said Mohammed Saafen, until a year ago a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, was involved in attacks on Israelis, including bombings, mortar fire and shooting ambushes.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops seized a 1.6-square-mile area of Beit Lahiya, a Gaza town from which Palestinians have frequently fired small, homemade rockets at Israeli border towns.
Two Palestinian policemen manning a roadblock in Beit Lahiya were killed by tank fire, doctors said. Soldiers ordered teenage boys and men out of their homes, and by midmorning about 700 were assembled in the town square for questioning, said Husseini Jamal, a spokesman for the regional government.
In Gaza City, an empty coffin was placed in the main square Monday in memory of Corrie, the U.S. peace activist killed Sunday in the Rafah refugee camp. Palestinians gathered around the coffin to pay their respects.
Corrie's body remained at a hospital morgue Monday, awaiting the arrival of her parents. The 23-year-old student from Olympia, Wash., was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-backed group that has been protesting Israeli military strikes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Corrie sat down in front of a bulldozer in Rafah on Sunday when the driver scooped her up with the earth, dumped her on the ground and ran over her twice, said Charles Smith, a friend of Corrie's and member of the International Solidarity Movement. Smith said Corrie wore a bright orange jacket with reflective stripes.
Israeli military spokesman Capt. Jacob Dallal said Corrie's death was an accident. The military said soldiers were looking for weapons and arms-smuggling tunnels -- routine operations in that area.
In Ramallah, Arafat asked legislators to approve amendments to the prime minister's bill, but several lawmakers said they would not accept the changes.
If Israel or the United States determine that the proposed changes make the prime minister dependent on Arafat, it could derail attempts to restart Middle East diplomacy. President Bush said last week he would present a peace plan known as the "road map" if the Palestinians install a credible prime minister.
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