OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 25 January 2003 — Israeli soldiers yesterday killed three Palestinians, including a 45-year-old woman, who the army said attacked them with grenades and a pistol, while helicopter gunships fired 11 missiles at Gaza City, destroying a metal workshop and damaging a hospital chapel.
The violence came four days ahead of an Israeli general election that is expected to keep hard-line Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in power.
The woman killed in the clash with soldiers was identified as Soad Jawadallah, and the army said hand grenades were found on her body. Neighbors said Jawadallah had been distraught over the killing of her son Ahmed, an activist in the Islamic Jihad group, in a targeted Israeli killing three months ago. “After Ahmed was assassinated, she said many times she can’t endure life without him and she hoped she would be a martyr as soon as possible to join him in the other life,” said a neighbor, Sameh Shweiki, 25.
Jawadallah’s husband insisted his wife was an innocent bystander.
The clash took place in the morning near the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron in the West Bank, close to the city of Nablus. The military said four Palestinians attacked an army patrol, drawing fire that killed a man and a woman. Another man, who carried a belt with five kilograms (11 pounds) of explosives, was wounded and captured, and a fourth escaped, the army said. The man killed was a Hamas activist.
Earlier, Israeli helicopter gunships fired 11 missiles at Gaza City, wrecking a metal workshop the army said turned out crude rockets and mortars. One missile also damaged the 19th century Anglican chapel of Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, punching holes in the roof and the floor near the altar and dusting a painting of the Virgin Mary with debris.
A Palestinian woman died of a heart attack during the helicopter missile attack, Palestinian medical sources said. Fatma Al-Mashharawi, in her 30s, was a patient at Al-Ahli, the sources said.
“This is an act of terrorism against our church,” said Anglican Church Bishop Riah Abu Assal. “Its location next to the hospital is well known. There is no room for mistakes, and they (Israeli military officials) didn’t even bother to issue a statement to express their regret.”
Palestinians said six people were wounded in the missile strikes.
Hamas fighters responded by firing three short-range Qassam rockets at the Israeli desert town of Sderot, about 5 km (3 miles) from the Gaza fence.
One of the rockets left a hole the size of a truck tire in the yard of a home and lightly injured a woman hanging laundry, police said. Two other rockets landed in a field near a swimming pool.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel has decided to carry out a string of military operations which will “shake up” the northern Gaza Strip. “These operations will shake up the sector from where rockets were fired and will hit the terrorist infrastructure,” Mofaz told public radio.
One Palestinian was killed and 20 were hurt in fierce gunbattles that erupted between Palestinians and Israeli forces who swept into Beit Hanoun in what army sources called a limited raid to prevent further rocket attacks. (Agencies)
