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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (34844)	7/23/2002 12:52:49 AM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Israel wounds Hamas leader in attack -UPI -9:01 PM By Saud Abu Ramadan From the International Desk Published 7/22/2002 9:01 PM upi.com GAZA, July 23 (UPI) -- An Israeli army F-16 bombed a house in Gaza City early Tuesday belonging to a Hamas leader, killing at least 12 people, including his wife and three children and wounding more than 100 other residents, Palestinian officials said. The House belonged to Sheik Salah Shehada, founder of the military wing of Hamas, known as Izel Dein Al Qassam. Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Ranteesi said Shehada was only wounded and not killed in the attack. He is in stable condition, the spokesman said, but declined to say if he had been taken to Gaza's Shifa Hospital with the other wounded. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the attack was against "a terror target in the Gaza Strip." The IDF confirmed he was the target of the airstrike and said he was hit. Shehada was the No. 1 man on the IDF's wanted listed list for the last two years and commanded Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli security sources said he was involved in most of the attacks carried out by Hamas in the Gaza Strip having approved or planned them. Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets early Tuesday after announcements on loudspeakers in Gaza said Shehadeh was only wounded. Hamas vowed revenge for the attack. "Hamas is telling Sharon and George Bush that this crime is not going to pass easily without revenge. We tell Sharon and his gangs that there will be attacks that would shake the earth under their legs," said Ranteesi. Witnesses said an F-16 warplane fired a missile that leveled several homes in a Gaza City neighborhood. Officials at Gaza's Shifa Hospital said at least 12 people, and more than 100 were wounded. At least seven homes were destroyed in the attack. The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack. "Tonight's airstrike is a continuation of the destructive war carried out by the terrorist Israeli occupation army that is using the most developed kinds of weapons against our innocent people," the PA said in a statement released shortly after the attack. Palestinian security official in Gaza Col. Samir Mashharawi said "what happened is a real massacre and a ... war crime carried out by a war criminal called (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon against innocent civilians." "We tell President George Bush that he should stop giving Israel the excuse to commit more crimes against innocent people," he said. "This awful airstrike is a real war crime and (proves) that Sharon is the terrorist and not the Palestinians." The attack came at a time when both the Israeli and Palestinians have been trying to ease tensions in the West Bank. In a statement signed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the militant wing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, the group said it would not recognize any deal with Israel and rejects any renewal of talks with Israel after the airstrike. "Our response to the Israeli crimes would be tough and violent, and our attacks would be resumed soon and would against these criminal occupiers," the statement said. Earlier on Monday, two Palestinians were killed and two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a gun battle near the Tel Katifa settlement in the southern Gaza Strip. The army said the soldier's wounds were not life threatening. The Ha'aretz newspaper, citing Israeli military sources, reported the Palestinians had planned to attack the Tel Katifa military outpost. (Joshua Brilliant in Tel Aviv contributed to this report) Copyright © 2002 United Press International