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Israeli
Occupation Army Kills 14 Palestinians
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| Four-year-old Sheima
Imad al-Bassala was killed in the blast. |
RAMALLAH,
West Bank, March 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli occupation troops
shot dead 14 Palestinians, including women, children and a doctor, in a string
of attacks Monday across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, news agencies reported.
In
the deadliest attack against a Hamas official, Hussein Abu Kweik, his wife and
five children were killed when Israeli tanks fired at two cars in the West Bank
refugee camp of Al-Amari in Ramallah.
The
shells were fired from an Israeli occupation army base in the nearby Jewish
settlement of Psagot.
According
to BBC’s online news service, Abu Kweik was not traveling in the vehicle that
exploded at the time. Instead, his 32-year-old wife Bushra was killed, as well
as his three children, Mohammad, 10, Aziza, 16, and Bara, 14.
In
the other car, Arafat al-Masri, 16, and four-year-old Sheima Imad al-Bassala
also died in the blast, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
Israeli occupation army did not report any Palestinian shooting in the area and
a local Hamas official told AFP the attack was an Israeli assassination attempt
on Abu Kweik, who was not in the car.
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| Smoke rises from the car
was hit by Israeli tanks in the West Bank City of Ramallah. |
Abu
Kweik said his wife was taking his son and two daughters to school when an
Israeli rocket hit the car.
"The
Palestinian people and Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, will
avenge my slain family," he said as he headed a march of some 500 Hamas
supporters from the hospital to the center of Ramallah.
"This
blood cannot be forgiven," Hassan Yusef, a West Bank Hamas leader, said.
"This is a new crime by the Israeli occupation army and we have the right
to seek revenge."
In
the northern West Bank town of Jenin, meanwhile, victims of another Israeli
incursion included a 60-year-old Palestinian doctor, killed when an Israeli tank
fired on his ambulance, hospital sources said.
Mohammad
Abu Ghali, head of Jenin hospital, told AFP that Khalil Sliman, head of the
Palestinian Red Crescent for the Jenin area, was talking to him on the telephone
when he started shouting that his vehicle was coming under fire.
The
Israeli army was investigating the incident and had no immediate comment.
In
Jenin refugee camp earlier, Israeli fire killed Samira Zubeidi, 60, and Nasser
Zoher, 42, and injured four other Palestinians.
Also
in Jenin, Amjad Fakhuri, 30, the local leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
was killed by tank fire, Palestinian security sources said.
He
was wounded in the chest and legs and bled to death before the Israeli
occupation army let ambulances reach him, hospital sources said.
Earlier
Monday, Israeli tanks had rolled into the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip,
killing three Palestinians.
The
three were identified by medical sources as Ibrahim Blahum, 43, Ahmad Yusef
Assufi, 24, and Saber Abu Libdah, 28.
In
a separate incident, a Palestinian man was killed at an Israeli occupation army
checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Nablus in unclear circumstances.
Saturday,
March 2, the Israeli occupation army killed 15-year-old Ahmed al-Hashash during
the Israeli incursion in Balata refugee camp in Nablus.
Palestinian
human rights activist Mustafa Barghuti told AFP that far-right Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon was "trying to kill the utmost number of
civilians." He described the Israeli Prime Minister as "a monster who
is trying to satisfy the right wing with Palestinian blood."
The
latest Israeli violence follows a decision by the Israeli cabinet late Sunday,
March 3, to step up military operations against the Palestinians, after a series
of resistance attacks left more than 20 Israelis dead in less than 24 hours.
A
top Sharon aide said the Israeli cabinet's decision to increase the military
would include more air strikes and operations similar to last week's raids on
the refugee camps, and would focus on Palestinian resistance groups.
"We
regret that the Israeli government has decided to escalate attacks against the
Palestinians," Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told a
press conference Monday, March 4, AFP reported.
"This
will only lead to the loss of victims on both sides," he warned.
"We
hope that the Israelis will be rational and stop crimes against the
Palestinians," Abed Rabbo said.
"We
want to tell the Israelis that we will not surrender whatever measures they will
take," he added. "There is only one solution: going to negotiations
and a political solution."
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