At least four Palestinians were killed and more than 20 wounded Wednesday afternoon when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood as Israeli troops continued searching for the remains of six soldiers killed there the day before, witnesses said.
Fawzi al-Madhoun 32, Mohammed Moshtaha 22, and Mohammed Yassin were instantly killed after having been hit with shrapnel in the head and different parts of the body, Jom'a al-Saqqa, Head of DPR at al-Shifa, said.
Midhat al-Banna 25, was also killed in a separate Israeli attack in al-Zeitoun.
Witnesses said that a helicopter fired one rocket at the house and destroyed it. Scores of people and ambulances were rushed to the scene to evacuate the victims, WAFA erported.
By these latest killings, the Palestinian death toll of al-Zeitoun raid has risen to 13 and more than 150 others were wounded during the two-day ongoing attack.
Six Israeli troops were killed Tuesday when a powerful bomb destroyed their armored personnel carrier. After the bombing, Palestinians displayed some of the body parts. The Israeli army said Wednesday that small parts of the soldiers' bodies had been found near the scene of the attack.
But Palestinian resistance leaders said they had taken the remains away from Zeitoun to use as bargaining chips for demands that Israel end incursions in the Gaza Strip and release Palestinians in its jails.
Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority released a statement late Tuesday calling on residents of the Gaza Strip to return the remains of the Israeli soldiers.
In its statement, released after a meeting of PA officials in Ramallah, the Palestinian leadership called on the groups to treat the bodies "according to Islamic law, and not to hurt Islamic values." The PA condemned the "criminal" Israeli operation, but called on the resistance activists not to "blemish the image and values of the Palestinians." (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
