GAZA CITY, 15 October 2004 — Israeli forces killed five more Palestinians, including a 70-year-old man, in two separate air raids in the Gaza Strip early yesterday.
Dr. Ali Mosa head of Al-Najar Hospital in Rafah told Arab News that three Palestinian were killed and four wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired missiles on a cluster of houses in western Rafah. Witnesses said the three dead were civilians and unarmed.
In another strike, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a house close to Al-Kholfaa Mosque that is run by Hamas in the town of Beit Lahya in northern Gaza Strip, killing two members of Hamas and wounding four civilians, medical sources said.
Israeli sources said a group of people were planting a bomb when the missile was fired.
A total of 124 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the offensive.
Officials with the UN agency caring for Palestinian refugees said Israeli armored bulldozers demolished about 30 houses in Rafah, leaving about 40 families homeless.
Troops hunting elusive Hamas rocket squads in Beit Lahya carved a trail of destruction. About 20 houses were seriously damaged and tanks broke up asphalt roads and water pipes, squashed cars and taxis, churned up dozens of hectares of olive and strawberry groves, and downed electricity and telephone lines.
“Rockets were never fired from among our houses and definitely not from my garlic store,” said an angry Anwar Al-Shafai, 60, gazing at the rubble of his business.
“An Israeli bulldozer uprooted the graves of my mother and uncle. I will have to rebury their remains. Unbelievable,” said Omar Khalil Omar, a local poet.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appealed for the Arab League’s support in ending Israel’s campaign in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the pan-Arab body said. — Additional input from agencies
