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Palestinians inspect damaged car after Israeli air strikes in Gaza. (Reuters)
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Additional
Reporting By Mostafa Al-Sawwaf, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, September 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Israeli warplanes launched on Saturday, September 24, a deadly air
strike on Gaza City, killing at least four Hamas members, prompting
calls for international intervention from Palestinian officials.
Witnesses
told IslamOnline.net that four members of Ezzudin Al-Qassam Brigades,
the military wing of Hamas, were driving in two cars when an Israeli
helicopter fired two missiles, one slamming into each vehicle.
Hamas
named one of the victims as 17-year-old Rwad Farhad.
An
Israeli army spokesman confirmed the air strike, which came shortly
after Israeli warplanes fired three missiles into the Gaza Strip,
injuring three Palestinians.
Hamas
fired some 26 Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot Friday,
September 23, to avenge the Israeli massacring of 19 Palestinians
during a rally in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
Also
Friday, the Islamic Jihad fired three Qassam rockets at Sderot in
retaliation for the Israeli assassination of three Islamic Jihad
leaders in Tul Karm earlier in the day.
Deployment
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Mofaz (L) has ordered "tough operations" in the Gaza Strip.
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The
Israeli army deployed an artillery unit along the northern Gaza border
on Saturday, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
An
AFP correspondent at the scene saw several tanks and armored-personnel
carriers lining up alongside the Gaza border fence near Melasim,
several kilometers (miles) from the southern town of Sderot.
Israeli
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz earlier ordered "tough and varied
operations" in the Gaza Strip.
Mofaz
and his chief lieutenants also discussed a possible Israeli ground
operation inside Gaza.
Israeli
occupation forces have closed down the entire Palestinian territories
and amassed troops near the Gaza Strip.
The
closure affects the West Bank, the Gaza Strip whose crossings into
Israeli territory have been closed and Palestinian villages and towns
in the Jordan river valley.
Israel
has withdrawn its troops from the Gaza Strip earlier in the month
after 38 years of military presence, but maintained tight control over
the strip’s airspace, harbor and crossings, turning it into an
open-air prison.
Palestinians
hope Gaza will become the embryo of a much-hoped state. They want
their state to include the larger West Bank and occupied Al-Quds (Arab
East Jerusalem).
Heart
of Israel
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Palestinians pray during the funeral of the 19 Jabalya victims. (Reuters)
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A
spokesman for Hamas vowed that the resistance group will strike at the
heart of Israel now that Tel Aviv has resumed assassinations.
"This
is a dangerous escalation from the enemy. Israel's return to
assassinations means the Israeli occupation continues in the Gaza
Strip," Mushir Al-Masri told AFP.
"Hamas
cannot remain silent faced with this escalation and crime. All options
are open, including a strike on the heart of the Zionist place,"
Masri added.
His
threats came as thousands of Hamas supporters screamed for revenge as
they turned out for the joint funeral of the 19 people killed in
Friday’s attack.
The
20,000 mourners were supplemented by around 1,000 armed and uniformed
fighters from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's military wing, as
well as dozens of armed Hamas fighters.
Speaking
to reporters on the sidelines of the funeral, Nizar Rayan, a prominent
Hamas leader, said the weight of the response "will be up to the
Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades but all doors are open in dealing with the
enemy."
He
vowed that Hamas would "prevent" any Israeli ground
operation.
Foreign
Intervention
A
spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the
resumption of Israeli assassinations as dealing a deadly blow to the
Middle East peace process, calling on Washington to intervene.
"A
resumption of Israeli targeted assassinations is very dangerous for
the peace process and all situation in this area," Abbas's
spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
"We
are asking the United States, especially, to move immediately and put
pressure on Israel to stop assassination before the entire situation
explodes," he added.
Palestinian
Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei called on the international community,
particularly the United States, to push Israel to stop the escalation
of violence in the Palestinian territories.
"We
call on the international community, the quartet and the American
administration to intervene to put a stop to the Israeli
escalation," Qorei told reporters in Ramallah.
The
quartet, made up of the United States, Russia, the United Nations and
the European Union, drafted a Middle East peace proposal that has been
virtually dead in the water since it was launched in June 2003.
