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This is the third time in a
month that Israel Defense Forces attacks have resulted in
civilian deaths.
The attack, which took place at 7:15
P.M., came hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened
to step up actions against Palestinian terror organizations in
the Gaza Strip.
The dead children were identified as
Mohammed al-Roka, his sister, Nadia, and Bilal al-Hassa. Seven
children were also among the injured, one seriously. They were
evacuated to Shifa hospital in Gaza.
Palestinian
eye-witnesses said the strike came at an hour when the streets
were busy and many children were playing in the area.
However, a senior IAF officer said the strike took
place "in an area where traffic was very thin, and that the
civilians that were injured were not seen by military cameras
before the hit. The officer said the two missiles fired hit
the vehicle directly. He was unable to explain how the two
targets escaped with light injuries while nearby civilians
were killed.
"This is complex combat against terror
cells operating in a civilian population. Some of the Qassams
are fired from populated areas. When a cell goes to carry out
a launch, we are working against a ticking clock. We have to
find the right place to hit them, before they operate. We do
everything we can not to injure civilians, even aborting a
strike where there is doubt."
The IDF Spokesman's
Office said, "The IDF regrets any loss of life among
non-combatants. Responsibility for this rests with the terror
organizations and the Hamas government."
Thirteen
Palestinian civilians have been killed in a little more than a
month in IAF strikes in Gaza.
The IDF said the cell
had been involved the day before in Qassam attacks against the
Negev. The two Fatah men, members of the organization's
military wing, were traveling in a car in the Sheikh Radwan
quarter of northern Gaza City when their vehicle was hit by
IAF missiles. Imad Abu-Hamed, one of the injured men, is an
intelligence officer in the Palestinian Police who has worked
in recent years with the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).
According to the Shin Bet security service, he has been
involved in weapons smuggling and establishing a Fatah Qassam
network and dispatching terrorists on attacks in Israel. He
was also said to have been the intelligence officer of the PRC
commander Jamal Abu-Samhadana, killed by Israel two weeks ago,
and had extensive connections with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Four Qassam rockets were fired yesterday morning from
the Gaza Strip. Two landed in the Gaza Strip and two in open
areas around Sderot, causing no injuries or property damage.
Last night, a rocket fell in Israeli territory, also
without causing injuries. Islamic Jihad took responsibility
for the launches.
On Monday night, the IAF attacked
Hamas premises in Gaza containing a lathe and a storeroom for
Qassam rockets. The building was damaged; no injuries were
reported.
Defense sources said an extensive ground
operation was not planned in response to the continued rocket
attacks; however, targeted assassinations are planned, along
with strikes against rocket launchers on their way to a launch
site, and attacks on command headquarters and terrorist
training camps. Strikes against senior Hamas members are also
being discussed because Hamas continues to distribute them to
other organizations involved in launches.
Meanwhile,
the army is still investigating two pieces of shrapnel removed
from two injured Palestinians hospitalized in Israel, after
the deaths of the seven members of the Ralia family on the
Beit Lahia beach almost two weeks ago. Military sources said
the IDF was sticking to its version that the family was not
hit by an Israeli artillery shell, and that either a
Palestinian explosive charge or old unexploded Israeli tank
ordnance was responsible for the blast.
According to a
statement released yesterday by Ihilov Hospital in Tel Aviv,
one of the injured Palestinians arrived for treatment in
Israel after shrapnel was removed from her body at Shifa
Hospital in Gaza, and that there had been no medical reason to
remove the shrapnel.
Yesterday, Defense Minister Amir
Peretz approved entry permits for an additional 3,000
merchants from the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of
merchants authorized to enter Israel to 10,000, in addition to
16,500 laborers. All are aged 35 or older and are married with
children.
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