GAZA CITY, 16 October 2004 — The Israeli Army began pulling troops out of northern Gaza last night after a 17-day offensive that left 120 Palestinians dead and 450 wounded.
Palestinian witnesses said nearly all the 200 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles withdrew from the area and the remaining forces began moving to the outskirts of Jabaliya and Beit Lahya refugee camps.
Israel launched its northern Gaza raid, one of its biggest and bloodiest in four years of intifada, after a rocket salvo killed two children in the border town of Sderot on Sept. 29. A military source said the redeployment was meant to ease restrictions on Palestinian civilians during Ramadan. The source said Israel would continue to hit rocket launchers in the area.
“The forces will continue to proceed against Palestinian missile attacks”, said an army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv.
Yesterday, two more homemade Qassam rockets were fired into Israeli territory from northern Gaza, causing no damage but creating doubts about the effectiveness of the Israeli operation in stopping the attacks.
The United States said it welcomed the Israeli move. “We have said that we hope the action in the northern Gaza Strip would end quickly,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “Therefore this is news that would be welcome if it’s confirmed that they are pulling back.”
Boucher repeated Washington’s longstanding demands that the Palestinians act to halt rocket attacks and move against those responsible for them. “The Palestinians have a responsibility for ending violence and terror, and particularly for ensuring that no area,” he said.
Two days before French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier’s visit to Israel, France yesterday protested vigorously against Israeli forces firing “warning shots” at European diplomats. On Wednesday, a staff member of the French Consulate in Jerusalem was confronted with “warning shots” when he approached the Erez crossing point on Gaza’s border with Egypt.
