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Israeli Tanks Storm Into Palestinian-Run Area Of Gaza Strip
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Palestinian
boys play amidst wreckage following an Israeli air strike on Gaza. |
GAZA CITY, Feb. 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Three Israeli occupation tanks and an army bulldozer pushed more than a kilometer into Palestinian-controlled land in the northern Gaza Strip Tuesday, firing on an abandoned Palestinian security post, Palestinian security officials said.
No one was injured in the incursion on to farmland to the east of Jabaliya, the officials said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli occupation troops also staged a pre-dawn incursion into the West Bank city of Halhoul north of Al-Khaleel (Hebron), destroying two houses and killing a security officer, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, February 12, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The official said a member of the Palestinian security forces, 22-year-old Tarek al- Hendawi, was shot dead as he fled a checkpoint during the pre-dawn raid in Halhoul.
Witnesses said the occupation forces, backed with tanks and bulldozers, also demolished three buildings in the city, before withdrawing.
Elsewhere, the Israeli occupation army abducted at least 10 Palestinians in area 'B' near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, said WAFA.
Meanwhile, vice president of the Democratic Social Group in the European Parliament Hans Svoboda said that Europe could not allow the Israeli government to proceed with the "complete destruction of the Palestinian National Authority," WAFA added.
"This region neighbors Europe, and we can't allow the complete destruction of the Palestinian Authority," Svodoba said.
He was speaking to reporters after meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut.
Svoboda said activities undertaken by the Israeli government were in the interest of none, including Israel and, in particular, Europe. He added that no alternative presently existed, though, that could meet the demands of the Palestinian people.
The European official accused far-right Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government of taking actions that did not allow for stability in the region.
"We have received strong appeals to play a more active role from people calling for peace in Israel,'' he said, adding that this role is not against Israeli interests, but ''against some practices undertaken by the Israeli government.''
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan also deplored ''the deepening spiral of violence'' in the Palestinian occupied territories, and expressed his deep concern and dismay at the Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
Speaking to reporters at the daily press briefing at the U.N., Annan’s spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters that Annan was ''dismayed at Israel's shelling of facilities belonging to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza near civilian areas with bombs of heavy tonnage.''
The bombing, which took place Monday, February 11, caused substantial damages to United Nations offices and injuries two United Nations employees.
''Mr. Annan reiterates his belief that no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be found through violence and retaliation,'' Eckhard said. ''Both sides must make every effort to achieve a durable ceasefire and return to the negotiating table, as there is no alternative to a political solution of this conflict.''
Israel makes regular raids on land under Palestinian control according to the 1993 Oslo accords. It bulldozes areas it claims are allegedly used as cover for gunmen, reported AFP.
The Israeli army has also stepped up its restrictions on travel within the Gaza Strip, closing the main road close to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and trapping scores of Palestinian travelers, a Palestinian source said.
The army had already closed the main road in two places to the north and south of the strip Sunday, February 10, when it launched air raids on Palestinian security buildings in Gaza City.
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