| Rafah raid killed 5 { April 20 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.htmlhttp://nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html
April 20, 2003 5 Killed in Israeli Raid on Gaza Camp By REUTERS
Filed at 8:42 a.m. ET
GAZA (Reuters) - The Israeli army killed five Palestinians and wounded around 70, many of them civilians, in a raid on the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses and medics said on Sunday.
An Israeli military photographer was killed and three soldiers wounded during what an Israeli general described as intensive fighting with gunmen in the crowded warrens of the camp, a militant stronghold on the border with Egypt.
Near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who threw a petrol bomb at them, witnesses said.
Rafah residents called the assault by a 40-vehicle armored force the most powerful Israeli push into the camp since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began 30 months ago.
The army mounted the operation amid Palestinian infighting over security powers prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas has been trying to wrest from President Yasser Arafat in setting up a new government to pursue reforms demanded by peace mediators.
Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, walked out of cabinet-formation talks in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday. He threatened to quit in the struggle with Arafat over who would run Palestinian security services.
The United States has sought to sideline Arafat, calling for democratic and anti-corruption reforms in his Palestinian Authority and a new leadership ``not compromised by terror.''
Once Abbas's new government is in place, President Bush has pledged to present a ``road map'' peace plan leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Mark Sofer, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Israel hoped formation of a new Palestinian leadership would lead to a swift resumption of negotiations. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to meet Abbas once he takes office.
But commenting on the Rafah incursion, Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters: ``The Israeli attack and escalation is aimed at one thing: sabotaging the road map and the peace process.''
Palestinian officials said efforts would continue on Sunday to resolve Abbas's differences with Arafat.
TUNNELS, HOUSES BLOWN UP
In the Rafah raid, Israeli forces found two 100-foot tunnels used for smuggling weapons and explosives from Egypt and blew them up, the army said in a statement.
Eight houses -- including the home of Mahmoud Abu Shmallah, the leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Rafah -- were demolished, witnesses said.
Palestinian medics said two of the five Palestinians killed in the camp were civilian males aged 14 and 32, while the others were a militant, a policeman and an unidentified man. They said about 70 people, including women and children, were wounded.
Hamas flags covered four of the bodies and the flag of another militant group, Islamic Jihad, covered the fifth corpse at a Rafah funeral attended by thousands and punctuated by calls for revenge and ``Death to Israel.''
Since the uprising began, at least 2,005 Palestinians and 733 Israelis have been killed.
After the troops pulled out, Hamas militants fired a makeshift Qassam rocket into the southern Israeli town of Sderot, touching off a small fire in an apartment building, where a woman was treated for smoke inhalation, police said.
Claiming the rocket attack, Hamas's armed wing issued a statement saying it would never ``succumb to the forces of evil and aggression by stopping legitimate resistance against the sinful occupation.''
Brigadier-General Gadi Shamni, commander of Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, told Reuters most of the Palestinians shot by his forces in Rafah were gunmen and some of the civilian casualties might have been caused by crossfire.
In the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, Palestinian cameraman Nazih Darwazeh, 45, was shot dead by Israeli troops while filming a clash, Reuters journalists and other witnesses said. Television footage showed him wearing a bright yellow, sleeveless jacket marked ``Press'' as he worked.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the incident happened near the end of an army pursuit of militants, when an armored vehicle got stuck and was hemmed in by Palestinians throwing stones and petrol bombs.
Major Sharon Feingold said ``our forces used non-lethal weapons to disperse them and when that didn't help they used light weapons.'' Witnesses in Nablus said there had been no Palestinian gunfire in the area at the time.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd. |
|
|