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Israel Kills 14 Palestinians In Gaza, Hamas Vows Revenge
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Palestinians carry a man killed in the raid into the hospital
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By
Mustafa el-Sawwaf, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, February 11 (IslamOnline.net) – Fourteen Palestinians,
including Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists, were killed on Wednesday,
February 11, and 52 others injured in Israeli raids in eastern Gaza
City and the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, drawing large-scale
retaliation threats from Hamas.
Witnesses
told IslamOnline.net that Israeli special units sneaked at dawn into
Al-Shajaiya district and engaged with Palestinian security personnel
and resistance fighters, killing 12 of them.
They
said the dead included Mohammad Abu Ermana; a policeman, Hani Abu
Sikhilia and Ashraf Farouk Hassanein; members of Hamas’ armed wing
Ezzudin Al-Qassam Brigades, Islamic Jihad activist Mahdi Yakoub
Zeidiyah and Mohammad Ahmad Hals; the son of Fatah’s secretary
general.
Sources
at Al-Shifaa hospital identified some of the dead as Ismail Abu
Atta’, Haitham Abed, Mohammad Al-Igla, Amer Al-Ghamari, Akram
Akilan. Two others were unknown.
Lamenting
the death of his son, Ahmad Hals told IOL that "it is a price we
pay for liberating our homeland and we will never give up our rights.
We are determined to restore our usurped rights".
A
total of 42 people had also been wounded after Israeli soldiers opened
fire on a Palestinian security post in the area.
In
the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, up to 15 Israeli tanks, backed
by Apache helicopters, stormed Tal Za’rab district and surrounded a
number of houses.
Palestinian
medics said Mohammad Za’rab, 23, died after being hit in the head
and 10 others injured in the Israeli raid.
In
the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested 19 Palestinians during
overnight operations.
Palestinian
security sources said Nariman Hassis, the 22-year-old wife of a local
leader of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, was arrested at her home in
Jenin along with her brother, Ahmad, 27, they said.
The
Gaza Strip has been the scene of barbaric Israeli raids recently,
claiming dozens of innocent lives.
The
worst of all was on January 28, when Israeli troops killed
at least 13 Palestinians in the southern outskirts of Gaza City.
On
Saturday, February 7, an Israeli air strike killed an Islamic Jihad
leader and a
12-year-old boy.
Harsh
Response
The
Israeli bloodshed provoked a furious reaction from Hamas and the
Palestinian Authority.
Hamas
called for large-scale attacks against Israel in retaliation for the
massacres.
"The
leadership ... calls on all its fighting cells in Al-Quds, Al-Khalil,
Nablus, Bethlehem, Jenin, Tulkarem and Gaza and in all the towns and
villages to respond quickly to hit all the enemy positions it can
reach with huge martyr operations," the group's armed wing said
in a statement.
Hamas
top official Sheikh Sayeed Siam vowed that his resistance movement
would respond harshly to "the massacres of the Zionist
enemy".
"The
enemy only understands the language of force and the incessant Zionist
attacks will not break the staunch will of our people," he told
IOL.
"We
must be proud that our fighters, whether from Hamas or the Islamic
Jihad, and strugglers stood up to the occupiers," Siam added.
Islamic
Jihad leader Mohammad Al-Hindi described the Israeli raids as "a
massacre against innocent civilians".
He
urged Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qorei not to hold talks with
the Israeli premier Ariel Sharon "because just meetings
legitimize the crimes of the occupation".
The
Palestinian Authority was quick to condemn the Israeli aggressions.
Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat’s top advisor Nabil Abu Rudinah said the PA
would lodge a complaint with the United Nations Security Council to
put a stop to such massacres.
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