Israeli tanks in the middle of the Gaza strip fired shells into a Palestinian neighborhood late last night, killing a mother, two sons, and a cousin. Four others were wounded. Following the tragedy, doubts arise over implementation of the new agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
The incident took place before dawn. Israeli tanks stationed in the middle of the Gaza strip to guard the Jewish settlement Netzarim opened fire with machine guns and heavy cannon. At least one of the tank shells hit a house inside the densely populated Sheikh Ijleen neighborhood, killing four of the inhabitants and wounding others. Red Crescent rescue service workers said Israeli tank shells hit two houses.
The dead were identified as Rawaida Hajien, age 50, and two of her sons: Ashraf, aged 23, and Mehad, aged 17. A cousin, Mohammed, age 20, was also killed, the Associated Press reported. Hajien's 4-year-old son, Khaled, was critically wounded, and three other people were hurt, doctors at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the casualties were taken, told the reporters.
Israeli military sources tried to present the incident as an accident, claiming Israeli troops had seen two suspicious figures approaching their position and had fired in defense, inadvertently hitting the Palestinian homes. However, Palestinian eyewitnesses claimed that the Israeli tanks had actually charged into the neighborhood, firing at local houses. "Israeli tanks rolled into our area, they were firing everywhere and one house was hit by at least four shells," Rami Shamalakh, a neighbor of the family that came under fire, told a Reuters correspondent.
The killings took place following a number of fresh incursions by Israeli tanks into the Gaza strip. Yesterday, a force of Israeli tanks and troop carriers drove all the way to the Gaza beach, severing the Gaza Strip in two and firing heavily at large floating objects in the ocean that the Israelis feared were arms being snuggled. These objects apparently later turned out to be refrigerators.
The killings also take place following a recent agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians to begin a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian areas as Palestinian security forces take charge of maintaining the peace. Palestinain forces on Wednesday had began setting up checkpoints in the Gaza Strip as part of the new agreement.
The deaths throw a heavy doubt on the latest withdrawal agreement, which Palestinians have often claimed Israel has no intention to keep. As a relative of the dead Palestinians, Fares Hajien, told reporters at the hospital where he had cried upon seeing their bodies: "It's a brutal crime. This is the Israeli step to implement the so-called Gaza plan." (www.albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
