Israeli missile rips through crowd

KHAN YOUNIS - Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians in a raid in the Gaza Strip yesterday, including 10 who died when a helicopter missile slammed into a crowd.

Hospital officials said all of the dead were civilians and that a further 80 people were wounded.

They said a child of about 12 was among those killed in the raid at Khan Younis when the missile hit people who had left their homes thinking the attack was over.

Later, a Palestinian hospital came under Israeli fire as it was taking in casualties from the raid and at least two more people were wounded.

Witnesses reported gunfire hitting the Nasser Hospital "from all directions, coming through the walls and windows".

They said people were running around in a panic, trying to avoid being shot.

Spokesman Dr Mohammed Abu Dallal said dozens of Palestinians had gathered at the hospital awaiting word of casualties.

The Army earlier said the incursion into two Palestinian neighbourhoods was intended to root out the "terrorist infrastructure" of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Brigadier General Yehuda Ziv said the al-Amal neighbourhood constituted a nest of terror. The crowded area was one of the few places that the Israeli Army had not penetrated in recent months.

He said the bulk of those hit had been armed men, but acknowledged that there had been civilian casualties.

More than 40 armoured vehicles were reported to be involved in the operation.

It was one of the highest single Palestinian casualty tolls in recent weeks and it dealt a blow to the new drive by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to coax the sides away from bloodshed.

Palestinian witnesses and security sources said Israeli vehicles swept into the adjacent Katiba and al-Amal neighbourhoods of Khan Younis, a Hamas stronghold, soon after midnight local time.

Two Palestinian civilians, including a woman of 50 and a middle-aged man, were killed by Israeli gunfire as a battle ensued between troops and local gunmen.

The Army said it suffered no casualties.

The other 10 Palestinians died at the close of the raid just before dawn when a helicopter gunship missile ploughed into a crowd in Katiba, witnesses said.

About 200 people had ventured out of their shelters and gathered near a neighbourhood mosque when it appeared the Israeli troops were pulling out.

Israeli sources said the missile had been fired at men who were firing at an Israeli convoy that was leaving the quarter.

The Army said soldiers detonated seized mortar bombs and pipe bombs during the operation and arrested a Palestinian carrying a homemade bomb.

Earlier, the Army said soldiers entered Khan Younis after Palestinian militants fired a rocket at a nearby Jewish settlement, causing no casualties.

Mohammed Abu Moa'amar, aged 22, who crowded into a room of his house in al-Amal with other family members seeking shelter from the offensive, said it was a difficult and terrifying night.

"Children were crying and women were screaming.

"The gunfire was random from the ground and the sky."

Israeli raids in Gaza have increased in frequency and scope since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed last month to pursue Palestinian militants suspected of attacks on Israelis in the two-year-old uprising against occupation.

But the deadliest raids have brought international condemnation of Israeli tactics against the uprising.

A missile strike on the military leader of Hamas killed 14 civilians in Gaza in late July.

Solana was to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday to advance a peace plan outlined by the EU, United Nations, United States and Russian mediators that is calling for a reform of the Palestinian Authority and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank cities.

Yesterday, Solana met Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, but the talks were already marred by the killing of two Palestinians in the West Bank.

US Middle East envoy William Burns is due to follow Solana to the region.

Washington has sought to calm Middle East violence as it seeks support for a potential strike on Iraq.

- HERALD CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS


Further reading
Feature: Middle East

Related links