Israeli Tanks, Bulldozers Move Into Gaza
Pastor Dale Morgan
Dec 11, 12:44 PM EST
*Israeli Tanks, Bulldozers Move Into Gaza*
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press Writer
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli tanks and bulldozers backed by
attack aircraft moved into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing
five militants in the widest operation in the territory since Islamic
Hamas forces wrested control in June. Another died in an airstrike in
northern Gaza.
The violence took place on the eve of the first formal peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians since early 2001.
The Israeli military described it as a routine operation "against the
terror infrastructure" in Gaza. Palestinian officials accused Israel of
trying to sabotage the peace talks.
In Tuesday's operation, tanks and bulldozers pushed about a mile into
southern Gaza on the main road between the towns of Khan Younis and
Rafah, and deployed over a 2.5 mile-stretch of territory.
Residents and Hamas security forces said at least 30 tanks and
bulldozers took part in the operation, but the military said 10 tanks
were sent in.
Since the Hamas takeover, Israel has carried out frequent airstrikes and
ground incursions into Gaza in response to Palestinian rocket and mortar
attacks on Israeli border communities. Israel considers Hamas a
terrorist group and holds it responsible for all attacks launched from Gaza.
At the same time, Israel has been pursuing a peace agreement with the
rival Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
Among Israel's targets Tuesday was a multistory building that suffered
heavy damage. Amid the rubble, at least two militants lay dead,
including one man whose body was torn in half by a blast.
As rescuers pulled the bodies away, two Israeli shells struck the
building seconds apart, sending people scrambling for cover. The body of
a third man lay motionless after the blast.
The incident was filmed by Associated Press Television News. An AP
cameraman and several other journalists at the scene suffered minor
injuries and shock.
The Islamic Jihad group said an Israeli tank shell killed three of its
fighters, and the smaller Popular Resistance Committees said a member
died in an airstrike. Hospital officials confirmed the deaths. At
nightfall, another militant was killed by a tank shell, Palestinians said.
Schoolchildren ran through the streets of Khan Younis, let out early
from school so they could take refuge in their homes.
Militants carrying land mines and other weapons dodged among houses and
maneuvered behind the tanks to fire at troops. Others took cover behind
trees or covered themselves in leaves to camouflage themselves in open
farmlands.
The operation focused on an area that is a main launching ground for
rocket and mortar assaults on army bases and the Israeli-controlled Sufa
crossing into Gaza. More than 15 militants have been killed in the area
in recent Israeli airstrikes.
Soldiers took over the rooftops of several homes at the onset of the
operation, which began around dawn, and detained more than 60 people in
house-to-house raids, residents said. The Israeli military said they
were taken into custody for questioning.
An Israeli tank was smoldering after it was hit by a Palestinian
grenade. Four soldiers inside were slightly wounded, the military said.
"They believe that such operations will harm the resistance and weaken
it, but they are mistaken," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
Although Israel has warned that a major operation against Gaza militants
was in the offing, it has said now is not the time for such action. The
army said Tuesday's incursion was nothing out of the ordinary.
In other fighting, Israel carried out two airstrikes early Tuesday
against armed Palestinians who approached troops in northern Gaza, the
military said. The military said it identified two hits in the two
assaults. Palestinian officials said one militant was killed.
The violence came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged
to "forge a historic path" toward a final accord with Abbas' moderate
West Bank Palestinian government. On Wednesday, the two sides are to
launch their first formal peace talks in seven years at the historic
King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
Olmert and Abbas hope to wrap up a deal next year, but Olmert has warned
that Israel cannot implement any agreement until Abbas regains control
of Gaza and reins in militants there and in the West Bank.
Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, called for the international
community to intervene to end the latest Israeli incursion in Gaza. "The
Israeli policy of escalation aims to sabotage and place obstacles before
the negotiations even before they start," he said.
Also casting a pall over talks is an Israeli plan to expand a Jewish
neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
Israel captured the eastern sector of the city in the 1967 Mideast war,
and the Palestinians consider any construction there to be a violation
of Israel's commitment to the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, which
requires Israel to halt all settlement construction.
Israel says the road map's freeze on settlement construction does not
apply to east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967. The Palestinians
claim east Jerusalem as their capital.
Palestinian officials told The Associated Press that Palestinian
negotiators would not be prepared to discuss anything in the talks
except settlement construction until Israel declares it will halt all
settlement expansion.