GAZA CITY, 28 October 2005 — Seven Palestinians were killed in a nighttime Israeli airstrike on Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp yesterday hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ruled out talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas until he took “serious action” against armed groups.
Palestinians and the Israeli military said a leading Islamic Jihad activist, Shadi Mohanna, was among the seven killed. Witnesses said the target was a white Subaru car in the Jabaliya camp, a sprawling shantytown next to Gaza City. Mohanna, the Islamic Jihad field commander in northern Gaza, was killed along with his assistant, Mohammed Ghazaineh, according to Islamic Jihad.
The attack came as Palestinians were leaving mosques after evening prayers. Hospital officials said at least 12 people were wounded.
A witness who gave only his first name, Nidal, said at least two missiles hit the car. “The explosion was very powerful, and flying metal from the car and the missile wounded many of the people walking in the street,” he said.
Angry Palestinians demonstrated around the scene of the attack. Channel 10 TV showed footage of people waving what appeared to be a body part in the air.
The Israeli military confirmed it carried out the attack. “In a security forces operation this evening in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israel Air Force attacked a vehicle carrying a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist who was responsible for several murderous terrorist attacks,” the military said in a statement. Military officials added that Mohanna, the head of an Islamic Jihad cell, was responsible for rocket attacks from Gaza and for recruiting attackers.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “We condemn this attack and warn about the consequences of this escalation.”
Earlier in the day, Sharon said Israel would carry out a relentless campaign against Palestinian armed groups, a day after an Islamic Jihad bomber killed five Israelis in the Israeli town of Hadera.
Islamic Jihad said the bombing was retaliation for Israel’s killing of a West Bank leader of the group earlier in the week.
Sharon’s office quoted him as saying: “If the Palestinian Authority doesn’t take serious action against terror, there will be no political progress. Under such circumstances, I shall not meet with Abbas, and the Palestinians lose out on all their national dreams.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing, but the White House said he needs to do more to stop militants in order to advance peace talks.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Abbas and told him to act against the fighters. “She urged the Palestinian authority to act against terrorist groups,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack when asked to comment on Rice’s telephone call.
“We talked about the importance of the Palestinian authority acting to prevent terror and to dismantle terror networks,” McCormack added.
Israel and the Palestinians earlier this month had delayed a meeting set for mid-October, their first since the Gaza pullout. Officials had said the summit could take place in late October or early November, but sporadic violence since then had cast doubt on that timetable.
Israel has said it plans to strike back at Palestinian activists, specifically those from Islamic Jihad, during a northern West Bank offensive. It has not given a timetable for the assault.
In the evening, Israel rolled tanks into the West Bank city of Jenin. One of Islamic Jihad’s top commanders in the West Bank, Abed Al-Khaleem Ezzedine, was arrested during a brief army incursion which was punctuated by gunbattles at the western entrance to the city.
Palestinian security sources said around 40 jeeps and tanks had moved into Jenin and surrounded houses as shooting rang out. Two Apache helicopters could be seen circling overhead.
After arresting six suspected activists, the troops left the city. There were no reports of casualties.
Jenin has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the five-year Palestinian uprising. Some 54 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed during clashes in the city in April 2002.
The main Palestinian militias are supposed to be observing a truce brokered by Abbas in March but Wednesday’s attack served as a reminder of its fragility.
Army chief of staff Gen. Dan Halutz was quoted as declaring a “war to the bitter end” against Islamic Jihad after meeting defense chiefs.
Security sources said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz gave the green light for the resumption of targeted killing operations against the masterminds of attacks and the army announced a general closure of Gaza and the West Bank.
— Additional input from agencies
