Ten Palestinians Die in Clashes with Troops, as IDF seek Gaza Bombmakers
Dec. 6, 2002
Jerusalem (ICEJ) — At least nine Palestinians were killed and at 10 were injured in the early hours of Friday morning during an Israeli military operation in the El-Bureij neighborhood in the Gaza strip, according to Palestinian sources. The AFP news agency quoted Palestinian medical staff as saying that a 10th person, a woman, died in hospital of her wounds.
The troops backed up by helicopters, were in the process of demolishing the home of Fatah leader Aiman Shasniyeh, when they found themselves in the middle of an intense, close-quarters gun battle with Palestinian fighters, the sources said. An Israeli helicopter fired a rocket into a crowd of armed men during the battle, the regional Israeli military commander told CNN.
Shasniyeh, who was not in the house when it was destroyed, is accused by the Israelis of co-ordinating a series of deadly tank attacks against the IDF alongside notorious bomb-maker Mustafa Sabah. Sabah was killed in a pinpoint helicopter strike in Gaza City on Wednesday amidst intelligence reports that he was planning more attacks.
In the same operation, troops reportedly demolished another house in the area belonging to a known suicide bomber, a standard Israeli practice of deterrent against such bombings. The Israeli forces pulled out of the area before dawn sustaining only one injury.
Palestinian sources report that four members of the same family were killed and a fifth was wounded by IDF tank fire during the fighting, but that has not been confirmed. It appears that two wanted men, who like Sabah were official Palestinian security officers were killed during the raid. According to IDF officials, at least four of other dead are known Hamas terrorists.
A senior aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Nabil Abu Rudenina told AFP “This is a new massacre and crime against our unarmed people.â€
Chief Palestinian Negotiator, Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, called the action “state terrorism†as part of ongoing Palestinian PR attempts to equate Palestinian terror and Israeli counter terror. Israelis fear that the popularity of such “moral equivalence†is growing with every Palestinian repetition, particularly in the left-leaning capitals of the European Union.