Five Palestinians killed in southern Gaza
30/12/2004 21:35
At least five Palestinians were killed Thursday and over 10 wounded in a
third Israeli large-scale military operation in less than two weeks in the
southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, medics and security sources
reported.
Three militants of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) were
killed by Israeli missile shrapnel west of the town, the sources said.
Another two Palestinians were killed and eight others wounded by the
Israeli army in a western refugee camp of Khan Younis as Israeli tanks, armored
vehicles, bulldozers and unmanned drones stormed the area at predawn
Thursday.
Israel Radio reported two Israeli soldiers were wounded during
the incursion, which was aimed at preventing militants from firing rockets at
the nearby Israeli settlements.
The Israeli incursion drew condemnation
from the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) chief negotiator Saeb
Erekat.
He told Palestinian radio Voice of Palestine that PNA condemned
the Israeli attack and was ready to take responsibility for every inch of land
that Israel troops would leave as well as the land captured by Israel in the
1967 Middle East War.
PNA was seeking to return back to the road map
peace process, but the Israeli occupation was a main obstacle, Erekat said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian militants stepped up mortar and rocket attacks on
Israeli settlements.
Ezzdine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing,
claimed responsibility for attacking some settlements in the Gaza strip.
The brigades said its militants fired homemade Yassin bombs on the
Jewish tower of Hardon in the refugee camp of Yebna in the southern Gaza Strip
city of Rafah and fired Qassam rockets on the settlement of Tel Katif.
Israel Radio reported a 20-year-old Israeli woman was wounded during the
Tel Katif rocket attack.
An Israeli patrol was also attacked by Battar
rockets in western Khan Younis as the soldiers attempted to raid a Palestinian
house.
Xinhua
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