Reuters
Israeli Missile Kills One in Gaza Camp -- Medics
Date: Fri, Sep 24, 2004
GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli helicopter fired a missile into a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza early on Saturday, killing an elderly man and wounding at least three people, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.
The Israeli army said it had taken out a group of militants in Khan Younis preparing to fire a rocket into a nearby Jewish settlement where a mortar bomb launched from the same spot on the edge of the camp killed a woman of 24 Friday.
Khan Younis residents said the missile crashed near a mosque and the camp's hospital said a civilian man of 60 was killed and three other civilians were wounded by flying shrapnel.
An Israeli army spokesman said Khan Younis militants had fired several mortars from the same location at the adjacent Neve Dekalim settlement Friday and the helicopter swooped to pre-empt another attack just after midnight.
"Before they managed to launch that projectile, we identified the terrorist cell from the air and fired at it, scoring a hit on at least two men, although we know there at least four of them," the spokesman said.
The Islamist militant group Hamas said it had targeted Neve Dekalim, a day after three Palestinian gunmen killed three soldiers on the fringes of another settlement to the south.
Violence has surged in Gaza ahead of the planned withdrawal of Israeli settlers and soldiers from the occupied land by the end of 2005. Militants are eager to say they drove out the Israelis and the army is keen to hit them hard before it leaves.
(additional reporting by Mark Heinrich)
SOURCE
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