GAZA
CITY, February 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A new Israeli
air strike claimed Saturday, February 7, the lives of an Islamic Jihad
leader and a 12-year-old boy Palestinian boy.
"Aziz
Shami, 37, died of his injuries shortly after being admitted to the
Shifa Hospital in Gaza," Dr Bakr Abu Safia, told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
An
Israeli attack helicopter filed a missile on Shami’s car as he was
traveling through Gaza City center, medical and security sources.
Security
sources said earlier in the day that the man, the cousin of senior
Islamic Jihad leader Abdullah al-Shami, was seriously wounded in the
legs.
Another
senior Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed al-Hindi, told
AFP that Shami had been in a serious condition in the hospital where
he had both legs amputated.
"The
attack was an Israeli assassination attempt against Aziz Shami,"
he underlined, vowing that the group will avenge him.
Witnesses
also heard the roar and boom of F-16 fighter jets breaking the sound
barrier over Gaza.
Child
Victim
 |
|
The body of the child lies on a stretcher (AFP)
|
A
12-year-old Palestinian child, Tareq al-Sussi, was also killed in the
Israeli raid.
Nine
other people, including children aged two and 10, were also wounded
and taken to hospital.
The
new fatalities up to 3,740 the number of people killed since the
outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada against occupation in September
2000, including 2,797 Palestinians, according to an AFP count.
Palestinian
Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said he had been "informed of an
Israeli F-15 raid in Gaza.
"I
condemn this attack which is a new Israeli attack aimed at escalating
the violence," he said from the West Bank town of Ramallah.
An
Israeli army spokesman confirmed in a statement that an air raid had
been carried out in Gaza.
He
claimed it was launched "against an important member of the
Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, responsible for murdering
soldiers and implicated in preparations for attacks" against
Israelis.
Shami’s
killing came two days after Israeli army assassinated
a leader of Hamas military wing in the Bureij refugee camp in the West
Bank.
Hamas
vowed revenge, saying in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net, that
"a dear price will be paid."
Israeli
occupation forces also killed
a member of the military offshoot of the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) on Wednesday, February 4.
Israeli
occupation forces also killed civilians in recent raids.
Five
Palestinians were
killed in fresh Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip
town of Rafah and the West Bank city of Jericho during the first two
days of Eid.
Joint
Protests
In
the meantime, nearly 3,000 protestors, including both Palestinians and
Israelis, rallied Saturday against the Israeli controversial West Bank
separation wall.
"No
to apartheid, " and "The wall creates a prison for
Palestinians, a ghetto for Israel," chanted the demonstrators.
The
wall will eventually snake some 700 kilometers along the West Bank and
leave even larger swathes of Palestinian territory on the Israeli
side.
Dozens
of Palestinian towns and villages, in addition to several quarters in
occupied Al-Quds, will be surrounded by the barrier and cut off from
the rest of the Palestinian territories, isolating some 350,000
Palestinians.
The
protest was jointly organized by two Israeli peace groups, Gush Shalom
and the bicommunal organization Tayush.
The
Palestinians charge that the separation wall is a deliberate attempt
to pre-empt the borders of their promised state.
U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is likely to appear before the
court, had dismissed the wall as a blow
to peace and a "deeply counterproductive" act
in violation of international law.
In
September, a U.N.
report branded the wall as illegal annexation of
Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the world community.
Following
an Arab-backed resolution, the United Nations General Assembly asked
the ICJ to rule on the legality of the barrier.
