Reuters
Israel hills 4 in Gaza raid
Date: Thursday September 2
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces have shot dead four Palestinians, including a 14-year-old, and wounded dozens more in a major raid into Gaza days after the first suicide bombing in Israel in nearly six months.
Israeli soldiers also blew up two apartment blocs elsewhere in Gaza, making scores of Palestinians homeless.
The incursion into the Deir el-Balah refugee camp on Thursday triggered the worst violence in Gaza in weeks.
Israeli helicopters fired warning shots and soldiers shot at Palestinians firing anti-tank rockets and hurling petrol bombs.
The clashes erupted after troops unearthed a tunnel near a Jewish settlement, a military source said.
Palestinian medics said four Palestinians were killed, including a 14-year-old, his 19-year-old brother and two other 19-year-olds. They said 41 people were wounded. The Israeli source said three Palestinians were shot, but did not give their condition.
In an overnight raid in nearby Khan Younis refugee camp, soldiers blew up twin five-story buildings which Israel said Palestinian militants were using to attack soldiers and Jewish settlers.
Six Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were wounded in the raid.
The operation followed Israeli threats to step up strikes on militants after suicide bombings on two buses claimed by Hamas militants killed 16 people on Tuesday in the city of Beersheba.
Israeli troops surrounded 10 apartment buildings overlooking the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim and ordered all 150 families to evacuate. Many sought refuge at a local hospital carrying the few belongings they had time to grab.
"The children were crying and screaming ... The army did not give us a chance to take anything, they said 'Just go'," said Ali Khalaf-Allah, a tenant from one of the buildings.
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS END STRIKE
In Gaza City, a Palestinian minister announced at a rally on Thursday evening that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails had ended an 18-day hunger strike "after 90 percent of their demands" for better conditions were met.
"We announced to you that all prisoners in all prisons have ended today their open hunger strike," said Hisham Abdel-Razek, the minister for prisoner affairs, as gunmen fired shots into the air and proclaimed the strike a victory.
At the height of the liquids-only fast, nearly 3,000 Palestinians in several prisons were refusing to eat, demanding better conditions and an end to strip searches.
Only Marwan al-Barghouthi, 45, sentenced to consecutive life sentences for killing five Israelis, and seen as a possible successor to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, was continuing his strike in an isolation cell, Abdel-Razek said.
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the renewed violence in Gaza would escalate the bloodshed.
"We strongly condemn the Israeli aggression," he said in a statement to Reuters.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to press ahead with an Israeli evacuation of troops and some 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza enclaves surrounded by 1.3 million Palestinians in 2005. But the latest spiral of violence could complicate his plan.
SOURCE
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