GAZA CITY, 26 September 2005 — Israel assassinated a top Islamic Jihad commander in a missile attack as it continued airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip for the second day yesterday. Separately, Israeli forces arrested 200 Hamas and Jihad activists in raids in the West Bank.
An Israeli missile struck a Mercedes carrying Mohammed Khalil, Islamic Jihad’s top commander in southern Gaza, according to Mohammed Dahdouh, a Jihad leader. The attack was at least the fourth Israeli attempt to kill Khalil in recent years.
Khalil’s car was destroyed. A large crowd swarmed around the remains, and several people, including a man with medical gloves, dug through the charred wreckage.
The Israeli Army claimed Khalil was responsible for several deadly attacks, including the May 2, 2004 shooting attack that killed Tali Hatuel, a pregnant Israeli settler, and her four young daughters as they drove along the main road that ran to Israel’s main bloc of Gaza settlements.
Khalil’s bodyguard was also killed in the attack, according to health officials. Four bystanders were wounded.
Atef Qatrous, 22, said he was leaving work when he saw a missile hit the car. One of those inside was decapitated and the other was badly wounded, he said.
Hours after the assassination, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip announced an end to Palestinian rocket attacks into Israel. “The Hamas movement announces its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupation have ended,” Mahmoud Al-Zahar told a news conference.
The decision was taken out of concern for the Palestinian people and the group’s commitment to a de facto truce in anti-Israeli attacks until the end of the year, Zahar said.
Israeli helicopters carried a series of airstrikes on Saturday night and early yesterday morning in which two Palestinians were killed and 21 injured. Among the targets was Dar Al-Arqam, a Hamas-run school here, and a warehouse in the West Bank town of Khan Younis. Israeli sources said the school was used to raise funds for Hamas.
Israeli helicopters also fired missiles at a car carrying the leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Khan Younis, but missed the target, Maher Al-Fara, a local activist said.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces arrested more than 200 Palestinian activists. They included Hamas activists Hassan Yousef, Fathe Al-Karawi and Mohammed Ghazal, witnesses and Hamas sources said.
Violence surged when a blast on Friday killed 16 people at a Hamas rally in Gaza. One of the victims, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, died of his wounds yesterday. Hamas blamed Israel and Palestinians fired at least 40 rockets into the Jewish state in response, though Israel denied responsibility and the Palestinian Authority said it appeared to be an accident caused by Hamas members carrying explosives.
Sharon ordered the army to do whatever it saw fit after his inner Cabinet approved a resumption in assassinations of top activists, suspended in February, and gave a green light for troops to shell Gaza to stop attacks.
“We don’t intend here to stage a one-time action, but intend to carry out a continued action, whose aim is to hurt the terrorists and not to let up,” he told ministers. Troops were poised outside the Gaza Strip for a possible ground offensive. In a show of strength, artillery units practiced near the boundary.
The US ambassador to Israel said the administration “understands” the difficult situation Israel is facing following the surge of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip and “recognizes that militants are trying to provoke Israel to respond.”
“I think we have reached a good understanding of the situation,” newly installed Ambassador Richard Jones told reporters.
— Additional input from agencies
