GAZA CITY, 25 August 2006 — The Israeli Army seized a Hamas activist and killed his brother during a raid in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday. The army also killed two Islamic Jihad activists near the town of Khan Younis shortly after midnight. Family members identified the Hamas activist taken into custody as Younis Abu Daqqa and his brother who was killed as Youssef Abu Daqqa. Abu Daqqa family members are known as Hamas supporters, Youssef was described by local residents as a civilian, not a fighter.
Hours earlier, Israeli soldiers shot dead the two Islamic Jihad fighters as they crawled along the border fence between Gaza and Israel, medics and witness said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials yesterday denounced kidnappers in Gaza who have demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the United States in exchange for two Fox News journalists. Such demands are turning US public opinion against the Palestinians and hampering efforts to win the freedom of thousands of Palestinians held by Israel, the officials said. The kidnappers demand the release of all Muslims held by US by midnight Saturday, in exchange for Fox cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand and correspondent Steve Centanni, a US citizen.
Palestinians believe the kidnappers are terrorists with Al-Qaeda connections, who sneaked into Gaza from outside. Such suspicions were raised by the kidnappers’ claims that they belong to a previously unknown group and by their demands, which are not linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh suggested yesterday the kidnappers had no ties to any of the Palestinian armed groups. “The Palestinian factions are well known,” he said after a meeting with Wiig’s wife, Anita McNaught. “They work... according to a Palestinian agenda. Their struggle is with occupation of Palestinian lands.”
— Additional input from agencies
