Gaza residents fear Israeli army wake-up call

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli voice interrupted a Palestinian
radio broadcast in Gaza on Thursday with a stern message in
Arabic.

“The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) call on residents near
the agriculture college to leave. Army forces will target it
because terrorists use the place to fire rockets against the
state of Israel,” the voice said.

The message from the army was the latest to warn of an
impending strike in what Israel says is an attempt to avoid
civilian casualties, and the Palestinian government, led by the
Hamas Islamist militant group, calls a “psychological war.”

“Many people left their houses near the agriculture college
following the Israeli message on the radio,” said Yamen Hamad,
a local journalist from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

“People take these threats very seriously and they live in
panic awaiting the hour of destruction,” he told Reuters.

The agriculture college had not been bombed by 1230 GMT,
two hours after the broadcast.

The Information Ministry accused Israel of trying to spread
panic in an offensive, launched a month ago, which has so far
failed to achieve its goals of recovering a captured soldier
and ending cross-border rocket fire.

At least 148 Palestinians have been killed in the campaign,
which has not slackened despite being overshadowed by Israel’s
war with Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Three people were
killed on Thursday.

The army confirmed the practice of issuing warnings in Gaza
by breaking into radio and television broadcasts as well as
through phone calls, flyers and loudspeakers.

“It is not a psychological war,” an Israeli army spokesman
said. “It’s only due to the fact that Palestinian terrorists
are operating from these civilian areas.”

At least six Palestinian houses have been bombed, hours
after receiving warning calls from Israeli army officers.

NO JOKE

When Omar al-Mamlouk got a call two days ago, he thought at
first it was a cruel joke by an acquaintance.

“What IDF? Are you joking me?” Mamlouk asked, but the firm
voice replied: “The IDF does not joke with anybody.”

Mamlouk hurried to alert his family. As soon as they left,
abandoning all their furniture, the place was bombed.

“Let the house be destroyed for the sake of Palestine,”
Mamlouk said, denying army allegations the house was used to
store arms for the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Concerned that some Palestinians might imitate the Israeli
warnings as pranks, the Palestinian attorney general has
decided to stop callers hiding their number.

Many government officials, militants and some ordinary
Palestinians had used the service, enabling them to conceal
their phone numbers for security as well as social reasons.

The lone Palestinian Mobile phone company, Jawwal,
circulated a text message to subscribers on Wednesday telling
them they would no long be allowed to conceal their numbers.

Israel withdrew its forces from Gaza almost a year ago
after 38 years of occupation. It sent troops back in after
militants, including Hamas’s armed wing, captured a soldier in
a raid into Israel on June 25 and fired rockets over the
border.