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Israeli Army Kills Four Members of Palestinian Family
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Four-year-old Said El-Ajeen was wounded by Israeli tank fire which killed his mother, and two of his brothers, Thursday, August 29
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GAZA
CITY, August 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Four members of a
Palestinian family were killed Thursday, August 29, and five other
people wounded by Israeli tank shells during the second military
incursion into the area in two days, Palestinian hospital sources
said.
A
close advisor to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Nabil Abu
Rudeina called the deadly attack a “massacre”.
This
“grave crime” was aimed at sabotaging efforts to obtain a
progressive Israeli military withdrawal from Palestinian areas which
have been reoccupied by the army since the start of the current wave
of violence in September 2000, the advisor said.
The
four victims were named as 40-year-old Ruwiedah El-Ajeen, her son
Mohammed and brothers Ashraf and Milad El-Ajeen, two other family
members.
They
died when a tank shell exploded in a house in southern Gaza City, near
the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
Five
other Palestinians were wounded, one seriously, by the shells which
hit the house and others nearby, Palestinian security sources said.
The
incident came after Israeli forces made a 500-meter (yard) incursion
into the autonomous Palestinian area, sources said.
A
senior official of the Islamic resistance group Hamas vowed
retaliation for the overnight Israeli shelling.
“We
strongly condemn this ugly massacre. This crime is part of Israe’'s
aggression and war against pour people. Our response will be a new
escalation in our resistance,” Ismail Haniya warned.
The
Israeli minister has insisted that his withdrawal project is still
“alive” despite an army refusal to quit Palestinian areas of
Al-Khalil (Hebron), a West Bank city expected to be the next in line
for a withdrawal.
Under
the plan, Israeli occupation forces will pull back from positions in
Palestinian self-rule zones they have reoccupied since the start of
the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, as Palestinian security forces
ensure militants do not attack Israeli targets such as settlements or
military posts.
However,
neither side set a date for a renewal of talks between Ben Eliezer and
Yahya.
Israel
has insisted it will keep up it search operations in the West Bank for
suspected fighters despite the still embryonic security pact, AFP
reported.
Palestinian
officials accused Israel of shirking its obligations under the joint
security plan intended to help halt 23 months of bloodshed.
By
delaying the meeting on Wednesday, Israel is “slipping away” from
its obligations, Nabil Abu Rudeina, Yasser Arafat’s advisor told
AFP, accusing the Israeli government of “procrastination”.
Two
other Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation troops Wednesday,
August 28. A Palestinian man, 25-year-old Mohammed Baraka, was killed
in unclear circumstances in the central Gaza Strip, with Palestinians
security officials saying the Israel army of shooting him in the head.
Fighting
also broke out in the northern West Bank town of Jenin when Israeli
forces stormed in to re-impose a curfew which has been intermittently
lifted since Israel reoccupied almost the whole of the territory in
mid-June to root out resistance fighters.
A
Palestinian civilian was killed in his home as the army clashed with
armed resistance groups, while a youth was shot in the leg as crowds
of stone-throwing youngsters leapt on Israeli army vehicles, ripping
off their loudspeakers and jerry cans, Palestinian medics said.
The
latest deaths bring the death toll from almost two years of unrest to
2,462, the vast majority (75%) of them Palestinians.
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