• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Eight Palestinians Killed in Gaza Clashes

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Israeli troops moved into a neighborhood at the eastern edge of Gaza City early Wednesday, killing eight Palestinians and wounding at least 25 others in exchanges of fire, residents said.

The sounds of the fierce battle reverberated throughout the city as dawn broke. Among the dead were Mohammed Hilles, 18, the son of Ahmed Hilles, the top leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Gaza. The family lives in the area.

Four of those killed were armed. They included Hani Abu Skhaila, a senior Hamas activist who had survived an Israeli attempt to kill him in the past, said residents in the Shajaiyeh.

Two civilians were killed, and seven of the wounded were in critical condition, doctors said. A total of eight people were killed, witnesses and doctors said.

When Abu Skhaila's death was announced at a Gaza hospital, Hamas militants in camouflage uniforms waiting outside fired guns in the air and yelled "God is great" before jumping in a car to return to the fighting, witnesses said.

The military said troops fired in response to anti-tank missiles shot at tanks in the operation to search for militants responsible for firing rockets at nearby Jewish settlements. Troops hit at least 17 militants who had fired at them or were planting explosives, the army said.

Also, Israeli forces, including more than 10 tanks and several armored bulldozers, moved into the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border, residents said. Five Palestinians were injured in exchanges of fire in the area, they said.

The military said soldiers were looking for tunnels used by Palestinians to smuggle in weapons.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the Israeli operations "undermine" efforts to work out a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.

On Tuesday, the chief of Israeli military intelligence said evacuation of Israeli settlements, part of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's emerging disengagement plan, could be interpreted by Palestinian militants as a victory for terrorism.

Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash also told the top parliamentary committee that a pullout could put great pressure on militants to halt "terrorist activities," the army said later. Zeevi-Farkash briefed the lawmakers about the Gaza plan but did not express an opinion.

Sharon has said he would take unilateral steps if talks on a U.S.-backed peace plan, the "road map," remain bogged down. These would include imposing a temporary boundary in the West Bank and removal of isolated settlements.

The boundary would be based on the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank. The Israelis say they need the barrier to keep suicide bombers out, but Palestinians charge that the project is a massive land grab to prevent them from forming a state.

Last week Sharon indicated he would remove up to 17 of the 20 settlements in the Gaza Strip, shocking hardline colleagues from his Likud Party and threatening stability of his center-right coalition government.

As part of such a withdrawal, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz plans to keep troops positioned in the Gush Katif block of settlements in Gaza, the Haaretz newspaper reported Wednesday.

Gush Katif could be used to continue to carry out army operations against militants and as a "bargaining chip" in future talks with the Palestinians, Mofaz believes, the daily said.

Rabbis who direct the pro-settlement National Religious Party, one of four parties in Sharon's coalition, said Tuesday that if Sharon goes through with his plan to remove settlements, "those loyal to the Torah and Israel must resign immediately."

The other far-right party on Sharon's team, the National Union, has also said it would quit if he removes settlements. Israel has never taken down an authorized settlement from the West Bank or Gaza. Without the two parties, Sharon would lose his majority in parliament, though the moderate Labor Party has pledged to back his plan.

Sharon, in various Cabinet posts through the years, has been the main promoter of settlement construction and expansion, leading to skepticism about whether he would really implement his plans.

In another development, Israel's Channel 10 TV reported that a cement company owned by Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's family provided concrete for Israeli settlements and for the Israeli West Bank barrier.

More News in this Category