GAZA CITY, 11 October 2004 — An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a house in Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp yesterday, killing one civilian and wounding eight other Palestinians, hospital officials said. It was not immediately clear why the army targeted the house, not far from the Kholfa Mosque — a Hamas powerbase.
The strike killed a 38-year-old Palestinian civilian and seriously wounded eight other Palestinians, including a girl, hospital officials said. It also caused extensive damage to homes and stores nearby, witnesses said.
An Israel military source said “we are not familiar with any such incident”. He said Israeli forces had fired at militants in the area yesterday but only with light weapons and several hours before the time Jabaliya residents said the missile crashed down.
But Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli aircraft missile blew apart the home, and killed a man walking by en route to his job as a schoolteacher.
Israeli warplanes and drones were overhead at the time, according to residents.
“We were asleep and suddenly there was a loud explosion and the ground shook,” a resident said. “Three women neighbors were wounded and several other houses collapsed.”
Also yesterday, a Palestinian gunman wounded earlier in the army’s major offensive in northern Gaza died in the hospital, officials said. The two deaths brought the number of Palestinians killed in the operation to 96. Almost half of those killed were civilians, 18 were age 16 and under.
The offensive began Sept. 29 and was expanded after militants launched a homemade rocket into the Israeli town of Sderot, killing two children, later that day. The raid was intended to stop militants from launching the rockets into Israel, though militants have continued to fire them off during the operation.
The Israeli military on Saturday shot and killed a Hamas militant it said was responsible for the Sderot attack as well as a Sept. 30 attack on an army post in northern Gaza that killed an Israeli soldier and wounded two others.
Abed Nabhan, 25, a Hamas field commander, was killed when Israeli troops shot at Hamas militants preparing to fire an anti-tank missile at them in Jabaliya, the army said. The shots set off an explosion, killing Nabhan and wounding the three other gunmen, the army said.
The fatal salvo into Sderot fanned the opposition of nationalist hawks in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s camp to any pullback from lands Israel took in the 1967 Middle East war.
Militants have cranked up assaults in Gaza in hopes of portraying any withdrawal as retreat under fire. Sharon is determined to prevent any such impression strengthening his foes by hammering the militants into quiescence first.
He was to kick off parliament’s new session today with an address sketching out “disengagement”, followed by what is sure to be fierce debate in a polarized chamber leading to a Nov. 3 vote on a bill for compensating evacuated settlers.
Late Saturday, two Israeli aircraft fired missiles toward Palestinians in separate incidents in Jabaliya. The first strike, near a market, wounded four Palestinians, including two militants who were standing near a land mine, hospital officials and witnesses said. The militants were in critical condition and two bystanders were moderately wounded, hospital officials said. The second strike seriously wounded two other militants, hospital officials said.
Israeli military sources said soldiers identified a group of Palestinian gunmen, attacked them from the air and identified a hit on at least three of them.
Since launching its operation, the army has increased missile strikes on Palestinian militants and buildings where the military believes arms are manufactured.
Also Saturday night, an explosion rocked a 5-story house near Jabaliya, killing two people, hospital officials said. The army said the house was hit by an errant anti-tank missile fired by militants. Residents said the explosion was caused by two tank shells fired by the Israeli military.
Witnesses said the explosion hit the house belonging to Mahmoud Salem, one of the suicide attackers responsible for the double bombing at the Israeli port of Ashdod in March that killed 10.
Arab League Slams US
In Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa charged yesterday that the United States was abetting Israel’s deadly military operations in the Gaza Strip.
“The Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people is continuing because some superpowers are encouraging Israel,” Moussa told reporters.
Moussa did not name the United States but his comment came amid the 22-member body’s exasperation over a US veto of a draft UN resolution demanding Israel halt its Gaza raid. He warned that the “international immunity” Israel enjoys would not last forever.
— With input from agencies
