GAZA CITY, 11 August 2006 — Israel aircraft destroyed two buildings in the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, security sources said. There were no injuries reported in the air raids, carried out as Israel continued its deadly offensive in Gaza launched after fighters abducted a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.
According to Palestinian sources, the strikes targeted the homes of Hussein Al-Kafarnah of the Islamic Jihad movement and Osama Abu Amsha of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.
An Israeli Army spokesman said the raids targeted weapons depots of the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Brigades. In both attacks, the buildings collapsed, the sources said.
Also yesterday, Israel arrested a commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank city of Ramallah after Israeli soldiers surrounded Al-Morjan building near the Palestinian intelligence office in the city, witnesses and security sources said.
Israeli security sources said Palestinian fighters were using the house as a shelter.
Witnesses identified the arrested senior as Ramzi Abu Obaid. They added that before arresting Abu Obaid, the soldiers took up positions at the Ministry of Public Works and shot at the surrounded building.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people poured through the Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip to Egypt yesterday after it was reopened briefly but many others were left still stranded after the Israeli Army ordered its closure again just hours later.
About 2,000 people managed to cross at Rafah — Gaza’s only gateway to the world that bypasses Israel — which was supposed to be reopened from 8.30 a.m. to 8 p.m. to allow passage for humanitarian reasons.
But hundreds more frustrated Palestinians were left stuck after the Israeli Army ordered its early closure for security reasons.
— With input from agencies
