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U.S. Calls Israeli Raid on Gaza Strip “Heavy-Handed”
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Palestinians carry the body of two-month-old baby Duani Matar, who was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza, during a funeral procession in Gaza, July 23
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WASHINGTON,
July 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W.
Bush on Tuesday, July 23, criticized an Israeli raid on the Gaza Strip
the day before, calling the attack “heavy-handed.”
“The
president has said before that Israel has to be mindful of the
consequences of its actions,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
said, adding that Bush “believes that this heavy-handed action does
not contribute to peace.”
Fleischer
noted that Washington regretted the loss of innocent lives and said
that Bush’s position “will be conveyed to Israel today [Tuesday]
through normal channels.”
Fifteen
Palestinians, including nine children, one of whom was a two-month-old
infant, died when an Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile into a
densely populated area of Gaza City late Monday, July 22, in a raid
that also killed Hamas military leader Salah Shehade, the target of
the strike, as well as his bodyguard, his wife and one of his
daughters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“The
President is the first one to defend Israel’s right to defend
itself. But in this instance, the President has spoken out because of
the reason I have elaborated on,” Fleischer said.
Asked
whether the situation in the Gaza Strip could be likened to the fatal
U.S. bombing of an Afghan wedding celebration on July 1, in which 48
civilians were killed and another 117 were wounded, Fleischer insisted
that any such comparison was “inaccurate.”
“It
is inaccurate to compare the two,” he said, “because the United
States, because of an errant bomb, a mistake in a mission, has
occasionally engaged in military action that very regrettably included
losses of innocent lives.”
The
Israeli strike, however, “was a deliberate attack on this site [in
Gaza City], knowing that innocent lives would be lost as a consequence
of the attack.”
Fleischer
said the parties must “focus on political solutions, and that
requires the parties to be able to work together.”
He
added that some actions “can make it harder to arrive at a political
solution.”
With
Bush’s condemnation, however, the White House joined European and
Arab nations who called the strike irresponsible and denounced the
civilian deaths.
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