GAZA
CITY, March 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Four Palestinian
resistance activists were killed by Israeli occupation forces
Wednesday, March 3, in two separate attacks.
Three
Hamas members died in a new Israeli air strike on a car near Gaza
City, Palestinian witnesses and medicines said.
The
Mitsubishi was targeted by an Israeli gunship helicopter close to the
Jewish settlement of Netzarim, which lies just to the south of Gaza
City, eyewitnesses said.
They
added that the victims' identities have not yet been recognized, as
television photos showed their bodies charred beyond recognition after
the strike.
Abdel-Aziz
Al-Rantissi, a Hamas leader, declined to comment on claims that the
three Hamas members where on their way to carry out a new resistance
operation.
Speaking
to Al-Jazeera television, he only reaffirmed the Palestinians’
"legitimate right to resistance".
"Even
if they were part of a cell ready to carry out a new attack, this is a
legitimate right, unlike the aggressions of occupation forces,"
Rantissi said.
"Palestinians
have the right to resist occupation until liberation is secured,"
he added.
Netzarim's
65 families are guarded by an entire army battalion.
Fresh
Casualties
Also
Wednesday, a 19-year-old Palestinian activist belonging to Al Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigades - an offshoot of Fatah - was shot dead by Israeli
forces in the northern West Bank refugee camp of Tulkarem, Palestinian
medical and security sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
And
a 21-year-old Palestinian man died Wednesday of wounds sustained last
week when Israeli forces opened fire on a protest against the
separation wall being built in the West Bank.
The
latest deaths bring the overall toll since the start of the
Palestinian Intifada against occupation in September 2000 to 3,797,
including 2,843 Palestinians and 886 Israelis.
There
was no immediate comment from the Israeli army on the air strikes.
The
Israeli military's chief of staff, Moshe Yaalon, announced on Tuesday
that the army would intensify its attacks against resistance fighters
in the Palestinian territories.
"In
this kind of situation, attack is the best form of defense ... We will
pursue the terrorists -- whoever they are and wherever they are,"
he claimed.
