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Rescue team evacuating a Jewish settler wounded in the shootout
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, November 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A
Palestinian fighter killed two Jewish settlers before being gunned
down near the settlement of Rafah Yam in the southern Gaza Strip
Wednesday, November 6, Israeli military sources said.
A
third Jewish settler was wounded in the shootout which occurred among
greenhouses close to the settlement, part of the Gush Katif bloc,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
Palestinian was killed by the settlement's security chief, the sources
said.
The
military wing of Hamas, Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, claimed
responsibility for the attack by loudspeaker announcements broadcast
through the Palestinian town of Khan Yunis, which is just a few
hundred meters (yards) from Gush Katif.
They
identified the attacker as Ismail Bress, 25, from Khan Yunis, who was
employed as a laborer at Rafiah Yam.
Palestinian
security sources said all Palestinian workers in the settlement had
been ordered to leave the settlement, on the border with Egypt in the
south of the settlement bloc.
Israeli
government spokesman Avi Pazner said the attack was intended to
destabilize Israel at a time when it gears up for early elections
after the collapse of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national unity
coalition.
"This
attack demonstrates a concerted effort by Palestinian organizations to
shake and destabilize Israel when the country is facing internal
difficulties, and with the tacit consent of the Palestinian Authority,
which does nothing to stop them," Pazner charged.
On
Tuesday, two young Palestinians were killed and 15 others wounded when
Israeli tanks opened fire on the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on
the Egyptian border.
Adham
Hamdan, 16, was killed immediately, while Iyad Tahar, aged around 20,
died after an hour on life support, said Ali Moussa, director of Rafah
hospital.
Fifteen
other people were wounded when the tanks fired shells and opened
machine guns fire at the Palestinians.
Two
of the injured were in critical condition, Moussa said.
The
incident began when Palestinian youths threw stones at two Israeli
tanks escorting an army bulldozer carrying out works on the
Israeli-controlled border with Egypt, which bisects the impoverished
town.
The
tanks opened fire with machine guns, wounding seven people, including
an eight-year-old boy hit in the chest and a woman shot in the leg.
The
tanks opened fire again shortly afterwards, this time using shells,
causing the fatality and serious injuries.
