The Hindu : Four dead as Israel attacks Gaza

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 18, 2004

International

International

Four dead as Israel attacks Gaza

By Atul Aneja

MANAMA, MARCH 17. Reinforcing a fresh offensive following Sunday's twin suicide bombings by Palestinians that targeted a key port on Sunday, Israeli helicopters on Wednesday fired missiles killing at least four persons and injuring nine. Among the dead were two 15- year-old armed Palestinians. This morning's attack on the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza strip follows an Israeli air strike on Tuesday to assassinate Mohammad Haroubi, a military leader of the Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian group.

There are, however, conflicting reports on whether the air raid achieved its objective. The Islamic Jihad said that Mr. Haroubi had escaped unharmed. But a website belonging to another radical Islamic group, Hamas, said that that the Islamic Jihad commander had been killed during the strike. Three days after the Palestinian bombing of the Ashdod port, the broad contours of the Israeli offensive are coming to light. Israel, after a meeting of its security Cabinet on Tuesday, has stated its intent to assassinate some of the key leaders, especially those belonging to the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Apart from air strikes, Israel has decided to send ground troops into Gaza city.

The Israeli army backed by 25 tanks, jeeps and bulldozers entered the Rafah camp, located along Gaza's border with Egypt. In the West Bank, troops demolished three homes near Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. Demolitions also took place at Nablus — a town straddling a fertile agricultural area and Tulkaram.

Ten Palestinians were also arrested overnight in the West Bank. The Israeli authorities in tandem have blocked the entry of 19,000 Palestinian workers from Gaza who are employed in Israeli factories. The order has also been extended to cover Palestinians in the West Bank areas.

On the political side, talks with the Palestinians including a proposed first meeting between the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurei, and the Israeli Premier, Ariel Sharon, have been cancelled. The Palestinians appear to have anticipated the Israeli incursion. Palestinian sources have been quoted as saying that they have positioned snipers on rooftops in anticipation of a growing Israeli offensive.

All roads to the Jabaliya refugee camp, to which the two teenage suicide bombers belonged, have been blocked. The Al-Aqsa martyrs brigade that is loosely associated with the Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction has urged the Palestinian Authority to distribute weapons to all Palestinians so that they can retaliate against the incursion. The Palestinian Cabinet Minister, Saeb Erekat, denounced the air strike. "What is needed to break the vicious cycle of violence is not the mentality of revenge but the mentality of reconciliation and negotiations," he said.

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