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Israel Bombs Palestinian Security Targets, Demolishes 11 Homes
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| Israeli occupation forces demolish 11 Palestinian homes. |
GAZA
CITY, Feb. 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel Tuesday bombed
Palestinian security targets in the West Bank and shelled houses in the Gaza
Strip, news agencies reported.
On
Monday evening, a Palestinian gunman was also shot dead by Israeli troops as he
tried to enter the Jewish settlement of Morag in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli F-16 warplanes bombed Palestinian police headquarters in Rafah in the
south of the Gaza Strip and Ramallah in the West Bank, while in the Gaza Strip
tank shells killed a Palestinian woman and her 14-year-old daughter, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
body of Abdel el Wahad al-Najar, 20, was found in another house, while six more
Palestinians in a third house were wounded by the shelling, Palestinian
officials said.
Another Palestinian was shot dead near the Morag Jewish settlement earlier
Tuesday.
Israeli
undercover troops disguised as Palestinians also shot dead two people and
wounded six more in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.
The occupation army later starting demolishing 11 Palestinian homes near the
scene of the deadly Gaza Strip ambush, after warning 20 families to get out,
Palestinian officials said.
Israeli
right wing wants to see a stronger military response from Israeli premiere Ariel
Sharon, who swept to power on tough-talking security pledges a year ago, but who
has seen the region slide into even deeper bloodshed, reported AFP.
Some
of his own ministers have called for a partial re-occupation of Palestinian
Authority land or even for Arafat's expulsion. Sharon told his Likud party he
would not meet Arafat but would renew meetings with his deputies in a bid to
seek a way out of the crisis.
"I disagree with those who think we should destroy the PA and then remain
there and start running everything again," he told his party, according to
the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post daily.
He
is also under pressure from the left wing, although a new peace plan put
together by his dovish Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian
parliamentary head Ahmed Qorei has failed to win much support.
However, a small but growing number of Israeli reserve soldiers are refusing to
serve in the occupation of the Palestinian territories, while the peace camp on
Saturday, February 16, held its largest rally since the start of the Intifada.
Adding weight to the peace camp is a campaign to be launched by the Council for
Peace and Security, a grouping of 1,000 senior reserve officers and security
officials, which will call for a unilateral withdrawal from all of Gaza and much
of the West Bank.
Concerned
that the 35-year occupation could threaten Israel's security, the group plans a
publicity campaign called "Saying shalom to the Palestinians" and
calling for the dismantling of 50 Jewish settlements and the immediate
establishment of a Palestinian state.
In another development, three Palestinians -- including a woman and
her daughter -- were killed by tank shells early Tuesday during an incursion by
Israeli occupation forces near Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip,
Palestinian sources said.
The tanks fired shells at Palestinian homes and then prevented ambulances from
moving in to evacuate the wounded before the end of the operation that lasted
for several hours.
In
one of the wrecked houses, rescuers found the bodies of 36-year-old Miriam
al-Bahaifa and her 14-year-old daughter Mouna, while the body of Abdel el Wahad
al-Najar, 20, was found in another house.
Six more Palestinians in a third house were wounded by the shelling, the sources
said.
Separately,
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian near a group of Israeli settlements in
the south of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
The unidentified Palestinian was killed in an exchange of fire near the main
road leading to the Gush Katif settlements.
The latest deaths bring to 1,231 the number of people killed since the start of
the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000, including 940 Palestinians (mostly
children and teenagers) and 269 Israelis.
Palestinian
News Agency (WAFA) reported that Israeli forces abducted three residents of the
Husan village west of Betlehem. The three were Mohamad Hamamra, 26, Fahd Daoor,
30, and Naeem Hamada, 27. The forces entered the village supported by tanks and
military force and forcefully entered the homes of the residents and searched
them, the agency added.
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