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Relatives
gather around the bodies of Palestinians slain during Israeli Gaza
raids
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, October 8 (News Agencies) - Israel will continue its
offensives in spite of U.S. and world criticism of a raid which killed
14 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said Tuesday,
October 8.
"The
Israeli army will continue its operations," an official from
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
When
asked about Washington's rebuke following Monday's deadly raid in Khan
Yunis, he replied that the United States "recognizes Israel's right
to defend itself."
"The
Americans asked us to avoid all operations likely to hamper their
preparations for an attack against Iraq. We are bearing this in
mind," the official said.
"We
deplore the death of innocent people," the Israeli official
claimed, following the Israeli attack in which 14 Palestinian civilians
were ruthlessly massacred and scores others wounded.
Israel’s
closest ally, the United States, condemned the attack.
"We're
deeply troubled by the reports of Israeli actions in Gaza over the
weekend that resulted in the deaths and wounding of many Palestinian
civilians," U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
Monday night.
"We
call on the Israeli military to investigate the circumstances
surrounding these deaths and we expect immediate steps to be taken to
prevent the recurrence of tragic incidents such as these," Boucher
added.
U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Israel that the massacre could lead
to an escalation of the conflict.
"The
secretary general deplores the military attack in civilian areas during
the incursion by the Israeli Defense Forces early this morning in the
southern Gaza town of Khan Younis," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard
said in a statement.
Annan
"conveys his deep condolences to the families of the victims,"
the statement said.
He
was "particularly concerned by reports that a missile from an
Israeli helicopter gunship was fired into a crowd of civilians in
reckless disregard of the obligation under international humanitarian
law to protect the civilian population," the statement went on.
"Such
actions have no legal or moral justification" and would not promote
Israel's security, it said.
"Rather,
they could lead to a further escalation while increasing the sense of
vulnerability and insecurity among Palestinians and Israelis."
Annan
again appealed to both sides to halt all violent and provocative acts,
as called for by the U.N. Security Council.
The
Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Nasser Al-Kidwa,
meanwhile, called on the U.N. Security Council to send international
observers to protect his people and prevent further bloodshed.
In
a letter to the Council president, Martin Belinga-Eboutou of Cameroon,
Kidwa noted that 1,855 Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli
occupation army since the start of the Intifada against Israeli
occupation just over two years ago.
It
is "increasingly apparent that the Council has also to take
measures for the protection of the Palestinian people, at least in the
form of international observers, to prevent further bloodshed and
deterioration of the situation," Kidwa wrote.
He
asked for his letter to be distributed as an agenda item of the 10th
special emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly, which may be
convened when the Security Council is unable to assume its
responsibility for international peace and security.
Meanwhile,
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher urged Israel Monday to stop its
"aggressive and provocative" practices in the wake of the
brutal Gaza assault.
"Israel
is pursuing its aggression, which is leading to the death of innocent
victims daily," Maher told journalists.
"Israel
must stop these aggressive and provocative practices," he added.
Maher
said it was necessary to call "the states which have Israel's ear
to express positions in line with those of the U.N. Security Council
resolution," which calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied
Palestinian territories.
The
Egyptian minister, without elaborating, also said "an appeal had
been sent to convene a meeting of the Al-Quds [Jerusalem]
committee" of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), to
discuss the assault.
The
committee, created in 1975 by the OIC, is chaired by the king of Morocco
and groups Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Senegal, Guinea, Niger, Mauritania and
Palestine.
The
European Union (EU) also condemned the massacre. A statement from the EU
presidency condemned "the arbitrary use of extra judicial killings,
which will not bring security to the Israeli people."
"There
can be no justification for military actions directed indiscriminately
against civilian neighborhoods, whether Palestinian or Israeli,"
the statement read, concluding:
"Military
and violent actions only serve to fuel hatred and undermine attempts by
the parties and the international community to bring about
reconciliation and hope for a peaceful solution to the conflict."
"I
regret and condemn very much the acts which have been committed by the
Israeli army this morning," said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig
Moeller, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
The
EU presidency statement added that the Israeli assault came "at a
time where there was hope for a resumption of political talks on
implementing the recommendations of the recent Quartet meeting in New
York."
On
Monday, October 7, Russia also condemned the
"disproportionate" use of force by Israel.
"One
cannot justify massive military operations which lead to victims among
the civilian population," a Russian foreign ministry statement
said.
"The
scale [of the assault] and especially the use of tanks and aviation in a
densely-populated area was clearly disproportionate," it added.
Russia
urged the Palestinians and Israelis "not to provoke further
destabilization and not to drive the situation in the Middle East into a
confrontational deadlock."
France
also criticized Israel Monday. "France deplores the ongoing
operations of the Israeli army in Khan Yunis that left several dead and
wounded, and included shooting at a hospital," said foreign
ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau.
Rivasseau
said the violence undermined efforts by EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana, currently in the region, to try to bring the two sides back to
the negotiating table.
"The
negative signal that these operations send to the Palestinians is a
source of concern for us at a time when the efforts of the international
community are focused on implementing the road map set out by the
quartet as is indicated by the presence of Mr. Solana in the
region," he said.
World
condemnation continued Tuesday with Iran accusing Israel of
"genocide".
"The
genocide by Israel in the occupied lands is a direct outcome of the
United States' unilateral support for the Zionist regime," the
official Iranian News Agency (IRNA) quoted foreign ministry spokesman
Hamid-Reza Asefi as saying.
"Israeli
officials are thumbing their noses at the world and the internationally
accepted rules," he added, calling for the United Nations to
"end the inhuman actions of the Zionists in Palestine."
