JERUSALEM, 26 July 2004 — Six Palestinians were gunned down and two bystanders wounded during a raid by Israeli troops in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm yesterday, Palestinian medics said.
Among the dead was Hani Awidha, local commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the medics said. The Israeli military confirmed the killings.
Arafat’s chief adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina denounced “a crime for which the Israeli government is entirely responsible.”
The deaths brought to 4,196 the overall toll since the launch of the latest Palestinian uprising in September 2000, including 3,199 Palestinians and 926 Israelis.
Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters struck a the Gaza Strip yesterday, wounding at least four people and adding to tension in the territory at the heart of a Palestinian leadership crisis.
Two large explosions were heard in the city as the rockets struck in the area known as a militant stronghold. The Israeli Army had no immediate comment.
After more than a week of unprecedented Palestinian turmoil, mediators said they had made progress in attempts to mend fences between veteran President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, who resigned amid the chaos and calls for reforms.
A helicopter fired at least two missiles into a building in Gaza City’s Zeitoon neighborhood that residents said was the home of a fighter from the Islamic Jihad group, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state.
The army said it had targeted a weapons workshop ...”used by the Hamas terrorist organization and likely by other terrorist organizations.”
Medics said four bystanders were wounded. Hours later Palestinians fired a mortar that slammed into a Jewish settlement community center in Gaza, wounding six people, one of them seriously, medics said.
The Israeli helicopters returned and fired two missiles at the same building in Zeitoon after dark yesterday, Palestinian security sources said.
In addition to the regular Israeli raids, Gaza has been touched by unprecedented internal unrest over the past week that has put tremendous pressure on Arafat and has stirred fears of a Palestinian civil war.
Arafat, who has long resisted calls for reforms that might cost him influence, said on Saturday that he would accept any government changes proposed by Qorei.
He also made two new senior security appointments.
In Israel, upwards of 100,000 settler supporters gathered in a human chain from Jerusalem to the Gaza Strip in the biggest protest against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal plan since it won Cabinet approval last month.
While polls show that most Israelis would happily relinquish Gaza, many right-wingers are against giving up land to the Palestinians and say it would be a ...”reward for Palestinian terror.”
“This chain is a sign of strength,” said Anita Tucker, one of the 8,000 settlers living in heavily-protected Gaza enclaves alongside more than 1.3 million Palestinians
