At least 10 Palestinians killed, 70 wounded in Israeli strikes
By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
Knight Ridder Newspapers
JERUSALEM - Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships launched five separate strikes on the Gaza Strip on Monday against what Israel said were targets linked to Palestinian extremist groups, including Hamas. The assaults killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded more than 70, according to Gazan hospital officials.
The attacks are part of an effort by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to wipe out the infrastructure of Palestinian militant groups, and Monday's campaign was the most intensive in months. An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the stepped-up strikes were in response to Hamas increasing production and launches of crude Qassam rockets and mortars against Israeli targets.
The deadliest attack occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Israel time, when an Israeli military helicopter fired at least two missiles at a car in the central Gazan town of Nuseirat, killing seven people and wounding 70, according to Palestinian accounts. There were conflicting reports about who was in the car, although some witnesses said they were members of the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
"The first strike hit the front of the car and the ground at the same time," said eyewitness Adham Shatali, 20, who stood 30 yards away and was injured by shrapnel. "I saw the driver getting out of the car and he was waving his hands … but then when the second missile hit," the driver disappeared.
After the attack, hundreds of residents gathered around the wreckage and joined in chants of "revenge, revenge."
An Israeli military spokesperson said that the strike against the car in Nuseirat was the culmination of a chase after Palestinian militants approached the Israel-Gaza border fence at a kibbutz called Nahal Oz near the Karni Crossing. Two members were shot and the rest fled in the car, which was then fired upon by a military helicopter.
The first three strikes occurred within three hours, killing two Hamas militants and a passer-by and destroying two buildings in which the Israeli military source said Hamas manufactured and stored Qassam rockets, mortars and other explosive devices. Israeli authorities said the rockets were fired at Israeli towns 19 times this month, while mortars are used to attack Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip almost daily.
In the second attack, Israeli helicopters struck the pickup truck of the two militants in which they were transporting bomb-making ingredients they had taken from the partially built warehouse destroyed by Israeli warplanes in the first attack in the Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Palestinian accounts. The pickup had stopped at a traffic light on a busy street packed with schoolchildren who had just finished classes.
At least 23 people were wounded in the first two strikes, Palestinian hospital sources said, including four children and a 70-year-old woman. In the third strike, a one-room shack was demolished on the outskirts of Gaza City, but there were no casualties.
The final Israeli airstrike on Monday occurred at about 10:20 p.m. and targeted the first building that war planes had struck 12 hours earlier.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia condemned the strikes, saying they made it harder for Israel and the Palestinians to hold talks on ending violence. "Unfortunately this is part of the permanent Israeli aggression against the Palestinians," Qureia told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "The world should wake up to this aggression."
Ra'anan Gissin, an adviser to Sharon, insisted the strikes were part of Israel's war on terrorism. "We will chase the terrorists everywhere," he told the Ha'aretz daily newspaper. "They will have no sanctuary."
"The IDF and security forces will continue to do everything in order to prevent acts of terror, capture murderers and eradicate terrorist organizations," Sharon said during a speech opening the winter session of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset.
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