 |
|
Palestinian teenagers look at a burned car shelled by missiles fired from two Israeli helicopters
|
GAZA CITY, December 1
(IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An elderly Palestinian was found
dead Sunday, December 1, under the rubble of his house in the northern
Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia which the Israeli army dynamited during
an overnight incursion, Palestinian medical sources said.
Another Palestinian was shot dead
by soldiers earlier when Israeli armor, backed by helicopter gunships,
stormed the area late Saturday, November 30, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Ashur Dib Salem, 72, who was deaf
and nearly blind, was crushed under the remains of his house which the
army dynamited, witnesses said.
He was only discovered by
Palestinian workers and neighbors cleaning up the debris Sunday
morning, the sources added.
The army blew up two other homes
and pushed ahead with a controversial policy, which has been derided
by rights groups, of demolishing homes belonging to families of
Palestinian activists.
Salem's son was a member of the
Islamic Jihad resistance movement, while the other two homes belonged
to activists from the resistance movement Hamas.
As the column of Israeli armored
vehicles swooped down on Beit Lahia late Saturday, Salem's son, Hisham
Dib Salem, had time to flee his neighborhood before the army arrived,
but when troops urged through loudspeakers all the residents of
Salem's building to evacuate, his deaf and almost blind father was not
alerted, witnesses and neighbors said.
While the 80 residents of the
five-storey building ran out, leaving all their belongings behind
them, Ashur Salem was asleep in his rooftop apartment, they said.
The Israeli army did not search
the entire building and blew it up within minutes, the witnesses said,
adding that three other neighboring buildings were seriously damaged
by the powerful blast.
The two deaths in Beit Lahia
bring to 2,734 the number of people killed since the beginning of the
Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation more than two
years ago, including 2,006 Palestinians and 678 Israelis.
Meanwhile, at least three
Palestinians, including two children, were seriously wounded when an
U.S.-made Israeli Apache combat helicopter fired two missiles on a car
east of Gaza City Sunday, Palestinian medical sources.
There were no details immediately
available on the identity of the injured or the intended target.
The passengers of the car managed
to escape before their vehicle was destroyed, but the missiles wounded
three by-standers.
The Israeli army has often fired
missiles at cars in an effort to assassinate wanted Palestinians.
