GAZA CITY, 26 October 2004 — As many as 16 Palestinians were killed during a major Israeli offensive on the southern Gaza Strip as MPs began yesterday to debate a planned pullout from the territory, medical and security sources said. Another 70 Palestinians were injured and two Israeli troops badly wounded in the raid that started late Sunday, sources on both sides said.
The bloody operation, which the army said was aimed at halting mortar fire at Jewish settlements and military positions in Gaza, was launched just hours before the Israeli Parliament was to debate the controversial pullout from the Palestinian territory next year. The plan is to be put to the vote today.
The victims, among them an eight-year-old boy, died in either airstrikes or from gunfire and tank shelling in the town of Khan Yunis.
Most of the airstrikes took place early yesterday, but medical and security sources said that three people were wounded in a helicopter raid shortly after 6:30 p.m. (1630 GMT). It was not immediately clear if most of the dead were civilians or militants, in the incursion which saw around 30 Israeli armored vehicles and seven bulldozers enter an 800-meter section of Khan Yunis, occupying an entire neighborhood.
The raid occurred just 10 days after Israeli troops wrapped up a major operation in the northern Gaza Strip that left 130 Palestinian dead. UN statistics showed that the offensive, during which troops tried to stop militant rocket fire at southern Israel, also left 675 Palestinians homeless and caused more than three million dollars worth of damage.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been trying to deliver a knockout punch to the militants in Gaza, eager to counter criticism that his planned withdrawal of all troops and Jewish settlers from the territory next year would merely serve to strengthen armed factions.
Israeli troops also razed three buildings, leaving nearly 60 people homeless, Palestinian security sources said. Israeli military sources confirmed destroying one building which they said was the home of Mohammed Sinwar, a local leader of the Hamas movement who it said was responsible for attacks on Jewish settlements in the area.
Sharon submitted his Gaza withdrawal plan for a crucial parliamentary vote. Facing far-right threats to his coalition and warnings of civil strife, Sharon opened a stormy, two-day debate widely expected to end in approval for Israel’s first evacuation of settlers from occupied lands where Palestinians want a state.
“This is a fateful hour for Israel. We are facing an unprecedented decision,” Sharon said to loud heckling from ultranationalist lawmakers opposed to his plan, which he promotes as “disengagement” from conflict with the Palestinians.
“You are tearing the nation apart. Go home. You must not expel Jews,” Uri Ariel of the ultranationalist National Union party shouted at Sharon before being ejected from the chamber.
Sharon, once the settlers’ champion but now the target of their ire, said pulling out of tiny Gaza by the end of next year would make Israel easier to defend and allow it to seal its grip on larger West Bank settlements. The plan has US approval.
