Steve Quayle News Alerts

Oct 7, 2002
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli troops raiding this town with tanks and helicopters killed 13 Palestinians early Monday, including 10 who died when a missile slammed into a large crowd. Palestinian officials said all the dead were civilians, while the Israeli army said most were armed men killed in battle.

About 110 Palestinians were wounded in the four-hour raid, including 25 who were in critical condition, doctors said. Most suffered shrapnel wounds in the head, chest and abdomen. The dead ranged in age from 14 to 52.

Israeli troops fired machine guns and assault rifles at a Khan Younis hospital where most of the wounded were taken, killing one man and injuring three people. The military said the shots were fired in response to mortar fire, and witnesses said they heard two explosions before the shooting began.

Palestinians denounced the Israeli strike, the deadliest since July, as a massacre and called for international protection. The Islamic militant group Hamas threatened revenge. Israeli officials said Palestinians militants were responsible for the casualties because they took cover among civilians.

The military said Khan Younis is a Hamas stronghold and that during the raid troops arrested a wanted man carrying a homemade explosive device. However, there was no indication of a particular target, as in previous strikes against wanted militants that also claimed civilian casualties.

The Israeli military said the missile was aimed at a group of armed men who were attacking soldiers with guns and grenades. The missile was fired toward the end of the raid.

Wissam Abdeen, 29, said that as troops withdrew, residents emerged from their homes to inspect the damage and check on the fate of friends and relatives.

"We heard the sound of helicopters," said Abdeen, who was hit by shrapnel in his arm. "Two minutes later, I heard the sound of something coming from the air and I saw the flames. Then a big explosion lifted me and blew me 10 yards away."

Another resident, Abedi Ashour, 24, said he was emerging from his apartment when he heard the explosion. "People were bleeding, many of them lying on the ground. Women were screaming and blood covered the ground," he said.

Brig. Gen. Israel Ziff, the Israeli army commander in the area, said troops met heavy resistance from Palestinian gunmen. He said that as troops withdrew, many armed men gathered in the streets. "They fired a lot and threw grenades. There was a battle there," Ziff said. "The helicopter aimed at this armed group and hit them."

Ziff said the battle was filmed from a pilotless plane.

Israel's deputy defense minister, Weizman Shiri, said he was sorry if civilians were hurt. "But what can we do?" Shiri told Israel Army Radio. "It's war."

Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, who is visiting the region, said he was shocked by the number of casualties. "I think that it is even more dramatic because of the efforts that the Palestinian people were making in order to get out of the way of violence in recent weeks," he said.

Later Monday, Israeli troops fired into Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where hundreds of people had gathered to learn about the fate of loved ones. Among the wounded were a 14-year-old boy hit in the neck and a paramedic struck in the chest. Two bullets narrowly missed this reporter.

The dead, wrapped in Palestinian flags, were taken from the hospital on stretchers, carried by gunmen who fired in the air to shouts of "revenge, revenge."

Both Hamas and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement threatened revenge. "We will make the Zionist enemy swallow the bitter drink very soon," a masked Fatah activist, armed with a machine gun and grenades stuffed into a belt, told mourners.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, said: "Everyone should know that as our people were not safe in Khan Younis, so Israelis will not be safe in Tel Aviv. We will strike everywhere."

Also Monday, in Gaza City, gunmen disguised as police officers kidnapped the chief of the Palestinian riot police, Col. Rajeh Abu Lehiya, and killed him with at least 10 shots in an apparent revenge attack blamed on members of Hamas.

Rantisi distanced Hamas from the killing, saying it was apparently part of a personal feud involving the Akel clan, some of whose members have ties to Hamas. Last year, a member of the clan, Raed Akel, was killed by riot police during university protests in support of Osama bin Laden.

The Israeli raid of Khan Younis began shortly after midnight. About 40 tanks, backed by helicopters, entered the town and shelled houses on the main street. The Israeli military said the soldiers operating in the Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis exchanged fire with armed Palestinians.

Ashour, who lives on the top floor of a four-story building, said dozens of troops took over his apartment as a sniper position. Soldiers ordered about 35 residents into one room on the ground floor.

A reporter visiting the apartment saw spent cartridges on the floor and a smashed TV set. In the neighborhood, water pipes had been ruptured by tanks and streets were drenched in water.

Most of the dead and wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. The director, Dr. Haidar al Kidreh, said doctors trying to handle the large number of casualties performed several operations in the same room. Kidreh said the wounded ranged in age from eight to 75.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat denounced the Israeli raid as a massacre. "Every time we witness efforts to revive the peace process and put it back on track, like those being exerted now by Solana, the Israeli government moves to conduct such war crimes and murder innocent civilians because the end game of the Israeli government is to resume full occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Erekat said.

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