JERUSALEM, 22 March 2004 — Israeli forces yesterday raided a village in southern Gaza Strip, killing six Palestinians including a mother and four fighters, and wounding 16 others.
In the predawn raid, Israeli military vehicles backed by two helicopter gunships entered the Kaddeh area in Abasan village near Khan Younis.
Residents said Israeli soldiers forced them out of their homes and planted explosives inside.
Palestinian Public Security said the army destroyed seven houses and a workshop. They also accused the troops of damaging sewage and water pipes.
Israeli Army radio said as Basem Qudeih, a 38-year-old member of Hamas, and his wife Samahir, 33, tried to flee, the troops fired at him and set off an explosion, indicating he was carrying a bomb or wearing an explosive belt of the type used in bombing operations. His wife also died.
But a Palestinian doctor who examined the bodies said it appeared that they had been killed by the impact of a mortar or a rocket. Their bodies were riddled with bullets, he added.
“It’s clear that they died as a result of an explosion but not one that was self-inflicted,” Dr. Mohammed Abu Dalal said.
Another three fighters died during a gunbattle with the troops.
Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat condemned the raid. “At a time when everyone is concentrating on disengagement from Gaza, the Israeli Army is actually re-engaging and reoccupying Gaza,” he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, more than 35 people, including an Israeli rights activist, were wounded during a protest against Israel’s West Bank separation barrier.
Doctors at Sheikh Zayid hospital in the West Bank town of Ramallah said all 37 wounded demonstrators were hit by rubber bullets, with five of them sustaining head wounds.
The wounded included Israeli activist Itai Lavinsky who was shot in the head while demonstrating against the barrier near the West Bank village of Kharbatha, some 15 km (nine miles) northwest of Jerusalem.
Witnesses said around a thousand people gathered at 6:00 am at a spot where the barrier is still in the initial stages of construction to protest against the confiscation of Palestinian land. As Israeli bulldozers pulled up to begin work, the protesters sat down to prevent them from clearing the land.
Troops then fired tear gas canisters to break up the demonstration, and started beating some of those present. Shortly afterward, they fired rubber bullets into the crowd, witnesses said.
