Woman, 64, blows herself up in attack on Israeli troops
Pastor Dale Morgan
Woman, 64, blows herself up in attack on Israeli troops*
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Friday November 24, 2006
The Guardian
A 64-year-old Palestinian woman blew herself up as a suicide bomber in
Gaza yesterday in an attack on Israeli troops.
Two soldiers were slightly injured when the woman, apparently a
supporter of the Hamas militant group, detonated explosives strapped to
her body, becoming the conflict's oldest suicide bomber.
Eight other Palestinians were killed yesterday as the Israeli military
staged operations across the northern Gaza Strip aimed at stopping
rocket fire into Israel.
Troops were going through Jabaliya refugee camp when they saw a woman
acting suspiciously, the Israeli military said. A soldier threw a stun
grenade at her and she detonated the explosives.
Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the attack, named the woman as
Fatma Omar An-Najar and said that she lived near the refugee camp. Her
oldest daughter, Fatheya, said she decided to become a bomber because
her grandson had been killed. "They [the Israelis] destroyed her house,
they killed her grandson - my son," she told the Associated Press.
"Another grandson is in a wheelchair with an amputated leg," she said.
"She and I, we went to the mosque. We were looking for martyrdom." Other
relatives said the woman had nine sons.
There has been an increase in the role of women among militant groups.
Earlier this month a woman suicide bomber struck in Gaza during an
Israeli military operation. In a third incident hundreds of women
supporters of Hamas wearing headscarves and long cloaks marched into the
town of Beit Hanoun during an Israeli incursion in an attempt to free
dozens of armed militants holed up in a mosque. Two of the women were
killed.
Yesterday a Hamas spokesman, Abu Obeideh, said the attack was part of
the group's tactics. "We told the Zionist enemy we will meet it with
many surprises ... and this is one of the surprises," he said.
Israel's security cabinet met on Wednesday to consider a strategy for
Gaza and decided to begin targeting "Hamas institutions" but stopped
short of ordering the full-out assault in Gaza that some in the
government have pushed for.
Palestinian militant groups offered Israel a partial truce last night,
saying they would stop rockets attacks in exchange for a cessation of
attacks on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Two Israeli civilians were killed in the past 10 days in the town of
Sderot, just over the border from Gaza. Three Israeli soldiers have also
been killed since late June when the capture of an Israeli soldier
triggered the latest wave of violence.
However, the toll on the Palestinian side has been much higher. Between
late June and November 15 a total of 375 Palestinians were killed in
Gaza, according to the latest figures from the reputable Israeli human
rights organisation B'Tselem. Among the dead were 199 people who the
group determined were not taking part in the fighting when they died. Of
that number 74 were under the age of 18.
Separately in Jerusalem, Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for
human rights, said yesterday that there needed to be a system of
accountability to investigate cases where lethal force had been used in
the conflict.
"Evidence shows that an effective system of accountability, including
personal criminal accountability, will lead to a change in the approach
in the use of force," she said.