More than 140 Palestinians were wounded during the
nine-hour Israeli raid, part of a spasm of violence that has
battered U.S. hopes of calming the 29-month-old conflict ahead
of a possible war on Iraq (news - web sites).
Israel's army launched the Gaza operation just hours after
the first Palestinian suicide bombing in two months ripped
through a bus packed with high school students in the port city
of Haifa. A 14-year-old American girl was among the dead.
Witnesses and medics said the tank round crashed into a
crowd watching firemen hose down a commercial building set
ablaze in the raid on Jabalya refugee camp which triggered
hours of pitched gunbattles.
Palestinians said the blast killed eight unarmed civilians.
Amid the chaos, two headless bodies lay on the ground. Bloodied
survivors crawled or were dragged through dirt streets.
Gaza hospitals were overwhelmed with wounded, many of them
children pleading for help. "God help us, we are running out of
medicine, we are running out of blood," a doctor shouted.
The militant Islamic group Hamas, behind a wave of suicide
attacks on Israelis, vowed revenge, saying: "The Jews will pay
a dear price."
The army insisted it had done the utmost to avoid civilian
casualties and said the tank shell had hit a man standing in an
empty street, aiming a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at
troops as they withdrew from the area.
Israeli government officials said most, if not all, of the
Palestinians killed were gunmen. Palestinian medical officials
said five of the fatalities ranged in age from 13 to 16 and a
60-year-old man was also shot dead.
PALESTINIANS CONDEMN RAID
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat condemned the raid
as an act of revenge by Israel for the Haifa bombing.
The army said it was "part of an ongoing war against terror
and its infrastructures" and said troops arrested a senior
Hamas "terrorist," demolished his house and seized a large
cache of weapons and explosives.
Among the dead in Wednesday's Haifa bus bombing was a U.S.
citizen, Abigail Leitel, 14, a student at a local high school
taking part in an Arab-Jewish co-existence project.
Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron identified the
Haifa bomber as Hamas member Imran Salim al Qawasmeh, 21.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said a letter praising the
September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington was
found on the bomber's body after the blast, which blew off the
bus's roof and hurled bodies into the street.
Five of the dead ranged in age from 12 to 17, including
students returning home from class. Two soldiers were also
killed. More than 40 people were wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Israel
blamed President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) for
failing to rein in militants. The Palestinian Authority denied
responsibility and condemned the attack.
Brigadier-General Gadi Shamni, Israel's Gaza brigade
commander, said the Jabalya operation was not retribution for
the Haifa bombing but a continuation of an offensive against
militants in the area that began two weeks ago.
Those raids, reflecting the tough line Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon (news - web sites)'s new rightist government has been taking against
militants, have drawn rare U.S. condemnation of Israel over the
killing of Palestinian civilians.
HELICOPTERS STRAFE STREETS
In Jabalya, helicopters raked streets with machinegun fire
trying to pick off gunmen scrambling to take up positions.
Around 90,000 people are crammed into the camp, a hotbed of
militancy during a Palestinian uprising for independence.
Two Palestinian journalists working for Reuters were among
those wounded by the Israeli tank shell. Photographer Ahmed
Jadallah was hit by shrapnel in both legs. Television cameraman
Shams Odeh suffered a fractured foot.
In the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israeli troops killed
an Islamic Jihad militant in a shootout, witnesses said.
Israel's security cabinet, in a meeting after Wednesday's
suicide bombing, decided to step up military action against
Palestinian "terrorist" cells, Israeli security sources said.
Some 3.5 million Palestinians living under Israeli closures
and curfews imposed in response to violence fear a tougher
crackdown as the world focuses on a build-up to war in Iraq.
At least 1,903 Palestinians and 706 Israelis -- not
counting the Haifa casualties, who were not immediately
identified -- have been killed since the uprising began.
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