Eleven killed in Israel raids on Gaza
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wednesday June 27, 11:30 PM
*
Eleven killed in Israel raids on Gaza*
Eleven Palestinians were killed on Wednesday as Israel launched twin
offensives in the Gaza Strip, triggering the deadliest violence since
Hamas fighters overran the territory 12 days ago.
The bloodshed comes amid a renewed push for peace and rising
expectations that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be named
special envoy by the international Quartet pushing to resolve the Middle
East conflict.
Israeli tanks and bulldozers rolled into Gaza City and the southern town
of Khan Yunis in incursions launched overnight that swiftly sparked
clashes with Palestinian fighters armed with guns and rocket-propelled
grenades.
An air strike was called in near the Karni crossing between Gaza and
Israel after gunmen were spotted approaching Israeli forces.
The army said the activity was against "terror threats" in Gaza, where
Hamas fighters overran security forces loyal to Western-backed
Palestinian president Abbas on June 15, effectively creating an Islamic
enclave on Israel's doorstep.
Medics said 11 Palestinians were killed, including eight fighters in the
armed Islamic Jihad, Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades linked to
Abbas's Fatah party. Three civilians were killed, including a
12-year-old boy.
An Apache helicopter gunship swooped to the sound of heavy shooting and
periodic explosions in eastern Gaza City while Israeli soldiers
patrolled rooftops and Palestinian fighters ran through the streets,
witnesses said.
At least 40 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were injured.
"We have a number of gunmen who were identified by our forces there (in
Shujaiya area) and fired at in different incidents," an army spokesman
said before the operation in eastern Gaza City ended and Israeli
soldiers withdrew.
In the south, two fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades and Hamas's armed
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were killed in clashes with Israelis in Khan
Yunis.
"In the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinians fired anti-tank missiles and
opened fire at the IDF forces there which are operating against terror
threats. During exchange of fire, the force identified hitting two," the
army said.
The violence came as envoys pressed a diplomatic agenda after Abbas met
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert face-to-face at a summit in Egypt on
Monday for the first time since the Hamas seizure of Gaza.
While the international community is seeking to further isolate Hamas --
regarded as a terror group by Israel and the West -- Arab leaders are
pushing for reconciliation between the Islamists and their secular
rivals in Abbas's Fatah party.
Abbas condemned the Gaza operations as a "criminal action" at a news
conference with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the
West Bank capital of Ramallah.
Hamas lashed out at the "barbaric massacre" and the "first bloody fruit
of Sharm el-Sheikh" while Egypt warned that the offensives further
aggravated an already extremely complex situation.
In Amman, the leaders of Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- which brokered a
since collapsed unity government -- said they would back efforts to
restore unity.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's spokesman said on Tuesday that Riyadh
and Cairo were ready to resume mediation between the factions.
On Monday, Olmert told the four-way summit with Egypt and Jordan he was
prepared to free 250 prisoners from Abbas's Fatah party and that Israel
would pass on tax money collected on behalf of the Palestinians.
Israel froze such transfers -- amounting to several hundred million
dollars -- for 15 months while Hamas-led governments were in power, but
agreed in principle to lift the embargo after Abbas set up a new
emergency cabinet.
There has been mounting speculation that the Quartet -- the European
Union, Russia, United Nations and United States -- is close to a deal on
naming Blair as their new special international envoy.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said Blair had told him he was going
to take the post and Lavrov implied that Russia had no objection.