GAZA CITY, 29 February 2004 — An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing three people, including an Islamic Jihad militant, and wounding 15 others, doctors said.
One of the dead was identified as Islamic Jihad militant Ayman Dahdouh. The body of the other victim was so badly disfigured that it couldn’t be immediately identified.
The airstrike targeted a small gray Subaru traveling on a road linking Gaza City with the Jebaliya refugee camp. A thunderous explosion was heard along with the chop of helicopters. Ambulances raced to the scene. A warplane flew overhead, firing flares into the air.
The car was pulverized, leaving virtually no large pieces of wreckage. Palestinian security officials strained to keep order around the scene of the attack as crowds surged and called for revenge. One man held up a bit of flesh and chanted calls for revenge.
Saturday’s strike was carried out in a densely populated residential area, and three children, including a girl in critical condition, were among the wounded, said doctors at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital.
One of the wounded, speaking from the hospital, told The Associated Press that a helicopter fired at least two missiles at the vehicle. The injured arrived covered in blood.
Hundreds of people gathered at the hospital to check on the condition and identities of the casualties. Some gunmen among crowds at the morgue were crying.
An Israeli military spokesman said he was checking the report.
Israel has frequently sent helicopter gunships and warplanes to kill Palestinian militants in targeted missile strikes throughout more than three years of fighting.
The last such strike was Feb. 7, when an attack helicopter fired a missile that shattered a car, killing an Islamic Jihad leader in the vehicle and a 12-year-old boy on his way to school.
Frustrated Mayor Resigns
In Nablus, the mayor of the West Bank’s largest city said he was quitting in protest over Yasser Arafat’s failure to rein in armed gangs, dealing a blow to the Palestinian leader at a time of growing dissatisfaction with his rule.
Mayor Ghassan Shakaa, a longtime Arafat ally, said Friday he is resigning in protest over the descent into lawlessness.
“I have submitted my resignation to President Arafat because I see my city collapsing and I don’t want to stand idly by and watch this collapse,” Shakaa told The Associated Press said.
“My resignation is a warning bell to the Palestinian Authority and the residents of Nablus, because both of them are doing nothing for this city,” he said.
Palestinian police forces have been hobbled during more than three years of fighting with Israel. With the officers having no real authority, gangs wage deadly gunbattles, members of rival clans fight out deadly feuds and militants have kidnapped and beaten government officials.
In November, Palestinian gunmen shot and killed Shakaa’s brother. The mayor, who had been locked in a power struggle with armed gangs, named suspects, but security forces have been unwilling to arrest them.
He said Friday that his brother’s slaying and the failure to apprehend the killers were not the reasons behind his resignation.
Still, he said, the security forces under the control of Arafat’s Palestinian Authority could do more to bring order to the city.
“It can enforce the law,” he said. “But it is not enforcing the law. And our people can do a lot, but they are doing nothing except spreading disorder.”
Shakaa said he would stay on as head of the city until May 1 because he is involved in several development projects he wants to finish, including the construction of a shopping mall.
Al-Aqsa Owns Bomb Attack
In the Gaza Strip, an explosion inside a house critically injured a Hamas militant and his wife, Palestinian security officials said. Police were investigating the cause of the blast, which appeared to be the result of an accidental detonation of bomb-making material. Al Aqsa gunmen have carried out scores of attacks on Israelis in more than three years of fighting, including two recent Jerusalem bus bombings that killed 18 Israelis and a foreign worker.
On Friday evening, an Israeli couple was killed in a shooting attack on their car on a highway in southern Israel, near the West Bank. And the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility yesterday.
The 30-year-old man and his wife, 25, were shot dead in their car outside the Jewish settlement of Eshkolot on Friday night.
Israeli security sources said military trackers were searching nearby Palestinian towns for the gunmen.
A Brigades spokesman claimed responsibility for the drive-by shooting in call to Reuters in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Brigades have recently stepped up attacks amid rancor over an Israeli barrier going up in the West Bank. Israel calls it a security precaution. Palestinians call it a land-grab.
On Thursday, two Brigades gunmen killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza Strip boundary before being shot dead by troops.
Israel points to Brigades operations as evidence that Arafat has fomented violence during a more than three-year-old Palestinian uprising. He denies involvement.
