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Israel Razes 35 Gaza Houses
Hisham Abu Taha , Arab News
Palestine
September 26, 2004
The Israeli Army demolished at least 35 houses in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip and killed a Palestinian in an air raid yesterday.
Palestinian security and hospital sources said four other Palestinians were wounded during the air raid. The dead man was identified as Ahmed Abdullah, 60.
The death brings to 4,337 the number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, four years ago, including 3,318 Palestinians and 948 Israelis.
The air raid came several hours after an Israeli woman was killed during a Palestinian mortar strike on a Jewish settlement in the area.
An Israeli Army spokesman said a helicopter had fired at a group of four Palestinians seen preparing to fire a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). "They were seen preparing the RPG at approximately the same spot from which the mortar was launched on Friday," he said. Troops identified two hits in the air strike, he added.
Shortly afterward, Palestinian sources said troops in Khan Yunis also completely destroyed 35 houses, leaving 45 families homeless. Witnesses said soldiers, firing in the air, had forced the residents to leave their homes.
"We ran away carrying our crying children ... My oldest son was hit by a bullet in the stomach," said Mazen Qanan, 43, as he returned with other residents to pick through the rubble of their leveled neighborhood.
"We condemn this Israeli escalation," Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said. "This military escalation will only...enlarge the cycle of violence and
counterviolence."
The Khan Younis raid began under cover of darkness.
Residents said a missile crashed near a mosque and medics said it killed a man and wounded three other civilians.
The army spokesman said around 20 houses had been destroyed in the area because they were being "used as cover by Palestinians to fire mortar shells and anti-tank missiles at Israeli targets".
Elsewhere in Khan Yunis, 11-year-old Madeleine Brike was wounded inside a classroom when she was hit in the head by a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier, Palestinian security sources said.
They also said two children, aged seven and eight, were hospitalized after being wounded by an Israeli tank shell in Gaza City's Al-Zeitun district
The violence in Gaza took place as Israel shut down and sealed itself for the Yom Kippur holiday.
The West Bank and Gaza were put under tight closure on the eve of the Jewish new year a week ago and are expected to remain closed until Oct. 8.
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