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Israeli Air Strike On Gaza Wounds Two U.N. Employees
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The building housing the Palestinian Public Security Directorate as it takes a hit from a missile fired from an Israeli F-16 fighter jet in Gaza City.
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, Feb. 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Two U.N. employees were
wounded in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City that damaged a United Nations
building late Sunday, February 10, news agencies reported.
The
U.N. employees were hurt when F-16 warplanes bombed Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat's Gaza City compound late Sunday, the U.N. special coordinator for the
Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, said in a statement, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
The
Israeli strikes also caused serious damage to a United Nations building in Gaza
City, the statement said.
"Roed-Larsen
expressed outrage that Israel deployed bombs of heavy tonnage in such close
proximity to civilian areas and United Nations facilities," the statement
said.
"The
blasts blew out all of the windows on the first floor of UNSCO [United Nations
Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories] offices, including the windows
in Mr. Roed-Larsen's office," the statement added, pointing out it was the
third time the U.N. envoy's offices had suffered damage as a result of bombing.
Three
bombs completely destroyed the building housing the navy police headquarters and
badly damaged the command center for Arafat's elite Force 17 guards, Palestinian
officials said.
The
buildings blasted in Gaza City were less than 100 meters (yards) from President
Arafat's residence and offices.
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“Israel’s security requirements will not be achieved by aiming at civilian targets or destroying Palestinian powers in the areas of policing and maintaining order,” said Roed-Larsen (left).
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“Israel’s
security requirements will not be achieved by aiming at civilian targets or
destroying Palestinian powers in the areas of policing and maintaining order,”
Roed-Larsen said, Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported.
Meanwhile,
the Israeli occupation army launched an incursion Monday, February 11, in the
autonomous Palestinian area of Nablus in the West Bank overnight, triggering a
gun battle in which two Palestinians were injured, a Palestinian security source
said Monday.
Some
20 armored cars penetrated a kilometer into the Palestinian sector east of
Nablus where they met resistance from armed Palestinians. Israeli forces
withdrew from the area at 6:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), the Palestinian source added.
The
previous day, the Israeli airforce carried out a series of raids on Palestinian
targets in the northern Gaza Stip, wounding 40 people, AFP reported.
In
another development, far-right Israeli premiere Ariel Sharon faced mounting
calls from the right to get rid of Yasser Arafat Monday.
Israeli
Finance Minister Sylvan Shalom, from Sharon's own right-wing Likud Party, called
for Arafat's removal to allow a new Palestinian leadership to emerge.
"Terrorism
is on an upward spiral and that cannot continue for long," Shalom told
Israeli public radio. "Reprisals are not enough; we need to attack the
source of the terrorism and remove Arafat."
"It
is impossible that he [Arafat] continues to be on the scene. We don't need to
physically get rid of him, but to remove him," he added.
Arafat
is currently under virtual house arrest by Israeli forces in the West Bank town
of Ramallah.
However,
the Palestinian President said that he is confident that Israeli attempts to
replace him as a partner in future peace talks will fail, BBC's online news
service reported Monday.
He
said the Israeli government could not defeat the Palestinian people and must
deal with him because he is their elected leader.
Despite
blaming Arafat for "violence", Sharon has held talks with senior
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials Ahmed Qorei and Mahmoud Abbas.
Arafat
described Qorei and Abbas as "my colleagues" and said they were
"in the same boat" in reference to the PA.
"[The
Israelis] have to deal with the Palestinian people, who elected Yasser Arafat
and who will elect after Arafat any leader, any president," he said.
Arafat
said he was doing all he could to control the activists, reported BBC, and added
that no one can ask him to do more. "I am doing 100% effort, but no-one can
give 100% results, including the most important superpower in the world,
America."
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