http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322785,00.html
Hamas Leader's Son Among 19 Killed in Israeli-Palestinian Conflicts
Tuesday , January 15, 2008
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --
Israeli troops killed a son of Gaza's most powerful leader along with
18 other Palestinians on Tuesday in the bloodiest day of fighting in
the coastal area since Hamas militants seized control last summer.
As fighting raged in Gaza, a Hamas sniper shot and killed an
Ecuadorean volunteer working in the potato fields of an Israeli border
farm. That killing, and Tuesday's high death toll, stoked the flames
of violence at a time when Israel and Palestinian moderates are making
halting attempts to talk peace.
Tuesday's bloodshed began before dawn when Israeli infantry, tanks and
helicopters pushed into northern Gaza in what the military said was a
routine operation aimed at Palestinian militants who launch rocket
barrages at Israeli towns near Gaza almost every day.
Three Palestinian civilians were killed in the ensuing fighting, along
with 14 armed militants -- one of them Hussam Zahar, 24, the son of
hard-line Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar. The Israelis pulled out Tuesday
with no casualties. A later airstrike on militants firing rockets into
Israel killed two more Hamas men.
At the morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, a weeping Mahmoud Zahar
held his lifeless son's bloodied head in his hands and closed his
eyes, then kissed him three times on the forehead and recited verses
from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
Zahar is widely seen as the most powerful Hamas official in Gaza and
is thought to have masterminded the group's violent takeover of Gaza
in June. Another of his sons was killed in 2003, when an Israeli F-16
dropped a bomb on his house in a failed attempt on the Hamas leader's
life. Zahar has two surviving sons and four daughters.
Hussam Zahar was not targeted by the Israelis, Israeli Deputy Defense
Minister Matan Vilnai said.
Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar vowed, will respond to Tuesday's raid "in the
appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means."
Not long afterward, a Palestinian rocket slammed into the southern
Israeli town of Ashkelon, not a regular target for militants. The
southern outskirts of the city of 120,000 people lie about six miles
from Gaza. Most Palestinian rockets land much closer to the Gaza
border.
Several Palestinian factions, including one allied with Hamas, claimed
to have fired the rocket. Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets at
Sderot, the first time in months the group has targeted the Israeli
town. Israeli rescue services said five people were slightly injured
by shrapnel and power supplies were cut.
Hamas also took responsibility for killing Carlos Chavez, 19, of
Ecuador. He was volunteering on a kibbutz, or communal farm, near the
border when he was shot in the back by a sniper.
Chavez was taken to the kibbutz infirmary, where a medical team
pronounced him dead, police and the military said.
His death underlined why Israel's military operations in Gaza are
vital, said Maj. Avital Leibovich, a military spokeswoman.
"The shooting of the Ecuadorean youth demonstrates the necessity of
the defensive measures the military is carrying out with pinpoint
operations," she said.
Swaths of Gaza farmland planted with olive trees, cucumbers, tomatoes
and squash were destroyed in Tuesday's operation, Palestinians said,
and a used car market in Gaza was hit by three tank shells.
The three civilians killed included a 65-year-old man, militants and
doctors said. Fifty-two people were wounded, among them an 8-year-old
boy who was seriously hurt, medical officials said. Shifa Hospital in
Gaza City appealed for blood donations because of the large number of
wounded.
Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said the wounds
suggested the Israeli tanks were firing flechette shells, an anti-
personnel weapon that throws out thousands of metal darts.
The military had no comment on whether such munitions were used.
The Hamas government called a three-day mourning period and ordered
flags on all government buildings to be lowered to half-staff.
Israel is holding peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, who took control of the West Bank after losing Gaza to Hamas.
But Israeli forces continue to battle Gaza militants who bombard
southern Israel with rockets and mortars and attack troops along the
border.
Thousands of rockets have hit inside Israel in the past six years,
killing 12 Israeli civilians and causing hardship for the 30,000
Israelis who live around Gaza.
Hamas' senior political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, denounced Abbas for
trying to make peace with Israel.
"Shame, shame, for those who shake hands with the leaders of the
occupation, those who sit with the occupation leaders, and those who
give compromises to the occupation," Haniyeh told Hamas TV.
Abbas, Hamas' most bitter rival, denounced the raid and said it
undermined peace efforts. A Hamas official said the prime ministers of
Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia called Zahar and expressed their
condolences.
HOOROO
.
|
