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Palestinian children bear the brunt of Israeli fire (AFP)
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JABALIYA,
Gaza Strip, October 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As the
United Nations was set to vote Tuesday, October 5, on a resolution
calling on Israel to halt its bloodiest onslaught on Gaza in years,
Israel’s occupation army pressed ahead with its sweep trapping over
50,000 Palestinians, destroying homes and fields, killing over 80 and
wounding hundreds.
The
Israeli massive reoccupation of the northern Gaza Strip and Jabaliya
refugee camp, lasting for a week now, has come under global
condemnation. Even Washington, Israel
’s staunchest ally, has “hoped” the raid would come to an end
“soon”.
The
death toll mounted further as a Palestinian fighter was killed by an
Israeli tank shell fired at the Jabaliya refugee camp.
The
latest fatality was a 13-year-old Palestinian girl that was shot and
killed inside her home in the refugee camp when Israeli troops opened
fire from an observation tower in Rafah, on the border with
Egypt
, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Her
body was riddled with 20 bullets, including five in the head, doctor
Ali Musa from the Rafah hospital told AFP.
Shielded
Suffering
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Israeli troops trap over 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza (AFP)
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During
their “Operation Days of Penitence”, Israeli occupation forces
have demolished the homes of hundreds of Palestinians, bulldozed
swaths of agricultural land and destroyed infrastructure, according to
British daily The Guardian.
The
daily further focused the light on the crisis of the Palestinian
population.
“But
shielded from view is the suffering of about 50,000 Palestinians
trapped in areas seized by hundreds of Israeli troops, backed by about
200 tanks and armored vehicles.
“Palestinians
in the Israeli-held areas, including parts of Jabaliya refugee camp
and the small town of Beit Hanoun, described by telephone the widespread destruction and desperate
living conditions.
“Armored
bulldozers had demolished scores, possibly hundreds, of homes, they
said. Thousands of people had spent days without electricity and
water, although power was restored sporadically yesterday. Residents
said that the destruction of sewage systems had contaminated the water
supplies in some areas.”
US
Reaction
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“I hope that it does not expand,” Powell said (AFP)
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Meanwhile,
the United States
has called for an end to the Israeli sweep, although it has criticized
an Arab-backed draft UN
Security Council resolution on the onslaught.
US
Secretary of State Colin Powell repeated the
US
position that “
Israel
had a right to defend itself”, but called on Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon to use “a proportionate response” to Palestinian
rocket fire.
“Mr
Sharon finds the need to respond to that,” Powell said before
arriving in
Brazil
. “I hope that it does not expand, I hope that whatever he does is
proportionate to the threat that
Israel
is facing and I hope that this operation can come to a conclusion
quickly.”
Israel
's chief of staff said Monday that the Gaza “operation”, one of the deadliest since the start of the
four-year-old Intifada, could last for weeks.
The
onslaught has sparked deep international concern, including a weekend
call from UN chief Kofi Annan for Israel
to halt the operation. On Monday,
Egypt
called the occupation a “dangerous escalation.”
The
UN Security Council is set to vote Tuesday on the Algerian-sponsored
resolution which “demands the immediate cessation of all military
operations in the area of
Northern Gaza
and the withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from that area.”
US
ambassador John Danforth, however, dismissed the text as “one more
step on the road to nowhere.”
“The
Security Council and the General Assembly, instead of saying
‘stop’ to both sides, act as the cheerleaders of the
Palestinians,” Danforth said.
Dutch
ambassador Dirk van den Berg, who spoke for the European Union, said Israel
's response to Palestinian attacks was “disproportionate.”
Algerian
ambassador Abdallah Baali denounced “the disgraceful methods used by
Israel
today against defenseless civilian populations.”
The
text also “calls on Israel
, the occupying power, to ensure the unfettered access and safety of
United Nations personnel... and calls for the respect of the
inviolability of the facilities of the United Nations agencies in the
field, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the
Near East
.”
