GAZA CITY, 14 July 2006 — Israeli jets bombed the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in the Tal El-Hawa area of Gaza yesterday, causing intensive damage and wounding 10 children in a bid to build up pressure on the Hamas government over a captured soldier.
Meanwhile, the United States yesterday blocked an Arab-backed resolution that would have demanded Israel halt its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the first UN Security Council veto in nearly two years.
The draft, sponsored by Qatar on behalf of other Arab nations, accused Israel of a “disproportionate use of force” that endangered Palestinian civilians, and demanded Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza.
The United States was alone in voting against the resolution. Ten of the 15 Security Council nations voted in favor, while Britain, Denmark, Peru and Slovakia abstained.
In Gaza, warplanes fired two missiles into the building, targeting Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar’s offices and causing serious damage to the recently renovated five-story building, the neighboring Finance Ministry and 15 other houses. Israel confirmed the attack on the offices of Zahar, who an army spokeswoman branded “one of the most extreme leaders of the Hamas terror organization” directly responsible for planning “terrorist attacks.”
Zahar condemned the attack on his ministry and the killing of civilians in Israeli airstrikes as the Cabinet gathered after the bombing.
The F-16 strike in the dead of night was part of Israel’s offensive to release a teenage soldier and end rocket attacks, and follows past bombings of the Gaza offices of Premier Ismail Haniyeh and Interior Minister Said Siam.
It was ordered just one day after 23 Palestinians, including seven children from the same family, were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on the deadliest day in the Gaza Strip since the assault began three weeks ago. Ten children, including babies aged four and six months old, who lived in nearby homes badly damaged in the powerful blast, were wounded in the Foreign Ministry attack, witnesses and doctors at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital said.
— With input from agencies
