GAZA
CITY, October 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A 20-year-old
Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza
Strip town of Rafah Friday, October 10, raising to seven the number of
Palestinians killed in a massive Israeli army incursion.
According
to Palestinian medical sources, Atwa Abu Mohsen died after being hit
in the chest by a bullet fired by Israeli occupation troops sweeping
the Yibna section of the Rafah refugee camp reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
He
was the seventh Palestinian to be killed during a major army incursion
into the southern border town, which started late Thursday night.
Until
now, a total of 56 Palestinians have been injured in the raid, 18 of
them seriously, Palestinian medics said.
Mohsen's
death raised to 3,534 the number of people killed in the Palestinian
Intifada, which broke out three years ago. They include 2,629
Palestinians and 842 Israelis.
Earlier
Friday, an eight-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli troops
in the southern Gaza Strip, raising to six the number of Palestinians
killed in a massive Israeli incursion.
Ibrahim
Al-Qirinawi was shot and mortally wounded in the head as dozens of
Israeli armored vehicles, backed by helicopters, thrust deep into the
town of Rafah.
The
occupation army said its incursion launched late Thursday, October 9,
was aimed at thwarting what it termed "weapons smuggling through
tunnels" under the Israeli-controlled border between Egypt and
Gaza, according to AFP.
Palestinian
security and hospital sources has earlier said five Palestinians were
killed, including a child, and 36 wounded in a fierce battle after
elite Israeli occupation troops backed by tanks and helicopters
launched a deep incursion into Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza.
An
Israeli officer at the scene told AFP that Palestinian activists were
feared to be using a tunnel to smuggle anti-tank and portable
anti-aircraft missiles which would add a new dimension to the
Intifada.
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An
injured Palestinian boy rushed to hospital
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However,
the Israeli officer admitted that so far no tunnels had been found, as
the army said it was encountering strong resistance from Palestinians
using dozens of home-made bombs, rocket-propelled and other grenades
and automatic weapons.
A
Palestinian child, a teenager and three adults were killed in the
overnight Israeli offensive, which was still ongoing Friday morning,
Palestinian hospital and security sources said.
The
child, aged around 12, and the teenager were not immediately
identified.
Alaa
Numan Mansur, 33, was killed by a bullet in the chest, the medical
sources said.
Earlier,
Nader Abu Taha, 22, and Mohammed Abdel Wahaba, 23, were reported
killed and 14 other Palestinians wounded when an Israeli helicopter
fired a missile into the Ybna district of the Gaza Strip camp.
Six
more, including a child, were wounded in exchanges of fire deep inside
the camp following the assault by at least 15 tanks backed by two
helicopters, the sources said.
More
tanks from the Jewish settlement of Morag had taken up positions on
the outskirts of Rafah, the Palestinian security sources added.
A
spokesman for the Palestinian security services said up to 100 armored
vehicles took part in the raid, code-named "operation root
canal" by the Israeli army.
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A Palestinian boy runs away from Israeli tanks in Jenin
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He
said Israeli forces penetrated up to a mile (1,500 meters) inside
Rafah and its refugee camp.
At
least five houses were demolished and the electricity and water
network heavily damages, witnesses and security sources said.
An
Israeli army statement said one soldier had been lightly wounded in
the incursion.
"We
are coming up against strong armed resistance," a
lieutenant-colonel of the Givati infantry regiment told public radio,
as shooting was heard in the background.
The
Israeli army claims that 30 tunnels for bringing in arms from nearby
Egypt have been discovered by Israeli forces since the beginning of
the year.
In
a statement, the army said that the Gaza Strip was the Palestinian
point of entry for weapons and stressed that resistance organizations
were attempting to acquire more sophisticated arms.
Stinger-type
missiles could threaten Israeli warplanes or civilian aircraft flying
over the area.
The
army also claimed that the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) in particular was trying to bring in weapons from
Iran.
Teen
Badly Wounded In Jenin
Elsewhere,
a Palestinian teenager who was throwing stones at an Israeli tank in
the northern West Bank city of Jenin was badly injured when the
soldiers opened fire, Palestinian medics said Friday.
The
15-year-old boy was badly wounded during the incident in the city
centre, they said, and his leg might have to be amputated.
A
strict curfew has been imposed on the town and its neighboring refugee
camp since a woman bomber from the town blew herself up in a
restaurant in Haifa last Saturday, killing 20 people, apart from
herself.
Just
hours after the bombing, troops moved into the town and began
intensive house-to-house searches.
