|
Israel Kills 26 Palestinians, Including 22 Protestors
 |
|
A
Palestinian man carries a dead boy killed when Israeli forces
bombed a peaceful march at the Rafah refugee camp
|
GAZA
CITY, May 19 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli
occupation forces on Wednesday, May 19, killed 26 Palestinians,
including at least 22 slain when an Israeli helicopter opened fired on
a peaceful demonstration against its biggest ever incursion in the
southern Gaza Strip.
The
bombardment of protestors in Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah's
refugee camp, left at least 22 Palestinians, mostly women and
children, killed and tens others injured, reported Aljazeera on its
website.
The
Israeli daily Haaretz put the demonstration death toll at 15,
saying many of them were school students.
It
quoted witnesses as saying that four missiles were fired from the air
on around 3,000 Palestinian marchers.
In
the immediate aftermath of the missile strike, a steady flow of
panicked civilians could be seen carrying the wounded to the nearest
ambulances, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Several
children with their heads covered in blood were being rushed away by
their relatives, friends and strangers.
Rafah
residents were asking a freeze to Israeli campaign of house
demolitions, which according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA), has already left more than 1,000 Rafah residents homeless
since late last week.
Four
other Palestinians were also killed earlier Wednesday in Tal
Al-Sultan, Palestinian source said.
Saber
Abu Libdeh, 13, was gunned down, while his two brothers were wounded
by Israeli fire, they added.
Another
Palestinian was shot in the head after Israeli troops ordered all
males over the age of 16 to come out of their homes with their hands
in the air, witnesses told AFP.
Two
other men were shot dead moments earlier, including one who was
carrying a white flag as left his building to obey the Israeli order,
witnesses added.
The
fatalities take to 46 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli
occupation forces in Rafah since the small hours of Tuesday, May 18.
Since
the outbreak of the Intifadah in September 2000, UNRWA statistics show
more than 11,000 people have been made homeless by Israeli house
demolitions in the southern Gaza Strip city.
The
Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday, May 16, rejected
an appeal by Palestinians against the demolitions.
The
Palestinian leadership has accused the Israelis of conducting a
"war of extermination" in Rafah while the U.N. Security
Council is considering its response to events.
Amnesty
International dismissed the demolitions as "war
crimes" and "collective punishment".
No
Medical Access
According
to witnesses in Tal Al-Sultan, which has been virtually sealed off
from the rest of Rafah, most of the phone lines are down, while the
water and electricity networks have been destroyed.
"The
Israeli army destroyed the generator for the sewage pumping station
and waste is now spilling into the streets. The health situation is
horrible," said resident Hassan Abu Yusef.
The
Palestinian emergency services accused the Israeli army of blocking
ambulances in northern Gaza from reaching Rafah.
"This
is an absolute disaster. We sent ambulances to support Rafah but the
Israelis are preventing them from reaching the place," said
Mohammed Salama, who is head of emergencies at the Palestinian health
ministry.
The
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel group confirmed that ambulances
were unable to move south of the town of Khan Yunis to provide
assistance to medics working in Rafah.
Yossi
Beilin, one of the chief architects of the Oslo peace accords and the
leader of Israel's left-wing Yahad party, said the operation was
doomed to failure.
"There
is no situation in the world in which the army will be able to resolve
the conflict between us and the Palestinians, not from a military
point of view and not from a political point of view," he said.
The
new Rafah fatalities bring the overall toll since the September 2000
start of the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation to
4,053, including 3,077 Palestinians and 918 Israelis.
|
