GAZA/RAMALLAH, 29 December 2007 — Seven Palestinians were killed and 17 others were wounded Thursday night and yesterday morning in four Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and medical sources said. At dawn yesterday, Israeli warplanes targeted a groups of Hamas fighters in Khuza village eastern Khan Younis city southern the Gaza Strip, where a member of Al-Qassam Brigades the armed wing of Hamas was killed and five others wounded.
Earlier, another Israeli airstrike killed Mohammed Abu El-Murshed 43, a top leader in the Islamic Jihad armed wing, Al-Qods Brigades. Islamic Jihad sources and witnesses said that Abu El-Mourshed was assassinated while he was walking near his house in Al-Muhgraga village southern Gaza city.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes bombed Abassan village near eastern Khan Younis city in the southern of the Gaza Strip and killed two members of Al-Qods Brigades the armed wing of Islamic Jihad movement in addition to a third Hamas activist, Hani Ramzi. A three-story house belongs to Ahmaed Abu Teer, a senior in Fatah movement was also destroyed in the same attack. The Israeli Army said that infantry units backed by warplanes carried out a “routine operation” targeting gunmen who were firing rockets and mortars into Israel. Amid an atmosphere of sadness and cries of anger against the Israeli aggressions on the Gaza Strip, thousands of Palestinians participated in the funerals of the seven martyrs mainly the funeral of Abu El-Mourshed, a prominent leader in the Islamic Jihad.
In a raid in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers killed a member of the security force of former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, currently the senior Palestinian peace negotiator with Israel, witnesses said. Motassem Ash-Sharif, 22, was killed while trying to flee Israeli soldiers who had arrived at his house to arrest him, the witnesses said.
In another development, hundreds of Jewish and Arab women staged a protest in Jerusalem yesterday against Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, witnesses said. Protesters from Women in Black demonstrated near the home of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to mark the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the pacifist group.
Women from East Jerusalem joined the group of black-clad demonstrators, who carried signs that read: “Down with occupation.” A chorus sang in the background. Women in Black were set up after the outbreak of the first Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation in December 1987. Since then they have been staging weekly demonstrations on Fridays across Israel.
