GAZA CITY, 15 October 2006 — Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians and wounded at least 13 in raids into the Gaza Strip yesterday. The killings brought the Palestinian death toll in the last three days to 21.
Witnesses and medical sources said over a dozen Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, backed by military helicopters, rolled into Ezbat Abd Rabo early yesterday. Israeli helicopters fired missiles at three different locations, resulting in the death of seven fighters of Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.
Moaoya Hassnin, head of emergency in the Health Ministry, told Arab News that seven severely mutilated bodies were brought to Kamal Edwan Hospital. They were later identified as Ahmad Abu Al-Eesh, 20; Rami Abu Rashed, 18; Sakher Abu Jabal, 18; Mohammad Shaqura, 25; Soliman Al-Err, 29; Fayz Al-Err, 20; and Awad Attatwa, 18.
Hassnin said ambulances rushing to the scene were attacked by Israeli helicopters. That delayed their arrival to the area to evacuate the wounded. In a statement to the press, the Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades announced that six of those killed were its cadres and that they launched a number of anti-tank projectiles and mortar shells at the invaders before being killed.
Later in the evening, the car of a Palestinian fighter from the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, was struck by a missile in an Israeli airstrike. He died on the spot. A local commander of the group who was in the car was critically wounded and two passersby were also hurt.
Earlier, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Witnesses said an F16 warplane fired a missile at the house of Hamdi Al-Ashi, a Hamas activist. A huge explosion was heard in Rafah’s Al-Salam district near the border of Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The four-story building was completely destroyed. No one was injured, but power went off in large parts of Rafah after the strike.
Security sources said that an Israeli Army officer telephoned Ashi and ordered him to evacuate his house 15 minutes before it was targeted.
Since Israel stepped up its offensive in Gaza in June, following the kidnapping of one of its soldiers by Palestinians, at least 250 Palestinians have been killed, half of them civilians. Israel says the offensive is designed to track down the kidnapped soldier and to stop Palestinians from firing home-made rockets into Israel.
The Palestinian government denounced the offensive and said the new Israeli military escalation against the Palestinian people, their homes and infrastructure was part of a scheme to inflict as many casualties as possible.
Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who drew US criticism earlier this year for ignoring its efforts to sideline Syria, arrived in Damascus on an unannounced visit yesterday.
Moratinos, who is also a former EU peace envoy to the region, was welcomed at the airport by his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem.
The Spanish minister is due to hold a news conference this morning following talks with Syrian officials including President Bashar Assad, but there was no immediate word on their agenda.
In early August, during negotiations leading up to the UN truce resolution that brought an end to a month of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, Moratinos traveled to Damascus for talks on the European Union’s behalf.
— Additional input from agencies
