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Israel Destroys Building, Kills Thousands of Chickens in Deir il Balah
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U.S. Made
Apache plane destroyed a residential building in Khan Younis
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GAZA CITY, July 14
(IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli helicopters and war planes
fired rockets at a police building in the southern Gaza Strip town of
Khan Yunis on Sunday, July 14, Palestinian security officials and
witnesses said.
One Palestinian witness
said two U.S.-made Apache helicopters fired one rocket apiece at a
building used by Palestinian police, who had evacuated the area
shortly before the strike, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The same witness said an
F-16 warplane fired a rocket at another house nearby, destroying the
three-story building.
Palestinian News Agency
WAFA said that the three-floor residential building which lies in the
West Satr Area was severely damaged and a great fire started in the
building too.
Fire
engines and ambulances quickly went to the scene.
Meanwhile,
AFP reported that Israeli curfew relaxations in re-occupied
Palestinian cities provide a few vital hours for residents to carry
out their essential daily chores, but confusion about when the curfews
are eased can prove deadly.
Some
Palestinian officials even accuse Israel of deliberately changing the
curfew times at the last minute to try to erode the confidence of the
people in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian
Authority, which communicates the hours to the public.
Some
800,000 Palestinians have been living under curfews, intermittently
lifted, since June 19 when Israel launched a new military offensive to
seize most West Bank towns after a resurgence in suicide bombings.
On
Thursday, July 11, a Palestinian journalist was shot dead in clashes
that erupted when Israeli forces appeared in the center of the West
Bank town of Jenin at 3:00 p.m. after the local television station
said the curfew was lifted until 8:00 p.m.
Ramallah’s
deputy mayor, Saeb Nasser, said the Israelis often changed the
announced times, shutting off the streets hours before they had
declared they would for no apparent reason.
“The
Israelis want to do this to erode confidence between the Palestinian
Authority and its people,” he said, referring to Israel’s
determination to see Arafat and his regime replaced with a more pliant
administration.
Beriyeh Majed, the head of
Ramallah’s bakeries, said the chopping and changing of curfews often
led to wastage of bread, and bakers were forced to throw goods away if
the curfew was re-imposed hours earlier than expected.
Tayir
Tamimi, editor of Banks Monthly magazine, said bank workers were
distracted and liable to make serious mistakes, worrying about whether
they would be able to return home if the town was suddenly locked down
again.
In
Deir il Balah, thousands of chickens were killed after the Israeli
occupation forces destroyed a chicken farm in the Al Hikr area, south
of Deir il Balah.
Residents
in the area said that an Israeli bulldozer protected by five Israeli
tanks entered the area amidst heavy gunfire and started destroying the
chicken farm owned by Hussein Al Louh.
They
said that the occupation forces buried the chickens alive under the
sand and that they also uprooted 300 olive, orange and palm trees
owned by Al Louh.
Al
Louh said that the destruction of his farm was done without prior
notice.
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