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Wounded Palestinians lying on the ground after IAF strike on Gaza (Reuters)
Last update - 07:19 17/04/2008
20 Palestinians killed in string of IDF operations in Gaza Strip
By Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies
Tags: Gaza Strip, Bureij 

Twenty Palestinians were killed Wednesday, including a Reuters cameraman, in Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip, making Wednesday one of the bloodiest days in recent times in Gaza. Most of the clashes came in the afternoon in the center of the Strip, not far from the place where three Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas ambush earlier in the day.

The fierce day of fighting started at around midnight on Tuesday, when a patrol from the Givati infantry brigade, accompanied by armored and artillery forces, entered the Sajawiya neighborhood on the east side of Gaza City. The soldiers exchanged fire with armed Palestinians, mostly from Hamas. One Givati soldier was moderately wounded in the thigh by a sniper. The soldiers killed four Hamas gunmen. According to military sources, the Palestinians even fired from the minaret of a mosque, and the IDF returned fire at the mosque and later blew up explosive devices found inside the mosque. The mosque suffered heavy damage, and the resulting pictures caused furious responses in the Muslim world.

A Palestinian farmer, Hani Al-Zuarub, was killed at 3:00 P.M near Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, when a missile hit the car he was in. Another man was wounded. Three others were injured by shots fired at a school in the town.
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Twelve Palestinians were killed, including five children under the age of 16, Wednesday afternoon when IDF helicopters fired missiles at houses in the Juhad Al-Dik area.

Three more Palestinians were killed near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, including Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, 23. He died when the car he was riding in was hit by a missile. Two other journalists were wounded. Pictures showed the car had the letters "TV" on it, as is usual for vehicles used by journalists in the region.

Footage from Shana's camera showed an Israeli tank firing a shell in his
direction from several hundred metres away.

IDF sources expressed regret Wednesday over Shana's death. "Nevertheless, it must be remembered that there are battles against terrorist cells in the area on a daily basis. This fighting endangers the press and others not involved who are nearby." The IDF has not yet said whether it will conduct an official investigation into the death.

Four Hamas militants were killed in an exchange of fire with IDF troops east of the Sajawiya refugee camp. Five more Palestinians were wounded in the area, three of them critically.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said his group's armed wing was authorized to "strike the Zionist enemy everywhere".

The government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas censured the Israeli attacks but said the peace talks would stay on track. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told reporters that the negotiations were meant to stop Israel's "incursions, siege and daily killing".

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "gravely concerned" by the escalation of violence in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, and urged all sides to "exercise restraint."

A statement from a UN spokesman said Ban "condemns the reported civilian casualties among Palestinians, including children, during Israeli military operations."

He also "reiterates his condemnation of rocket fire against Israeli civilian targets" by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Fuel limits
The Nahal Oz fuel depot remained closed; Israel shut it April 9 after militants killed two Israeli civilians at the facility. The Ministry of Defense had said it would reopen the depot but the latest attacks put that into doubt.

Kanan Abaid, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Energy Authority in the Gaza Strip, said before pumping resumed that the power plant only had enough fuel to operate until Saturday.

The EU official said the goal was to provide "as much [fuel] as can be possibly pumped today" because the army had yet to tell the Europeans whether they would be allowed to make further deliveries to the plant on Friday.

The plant supplies power mainly to residents of Gaza City and the vicinity, home to 800,000 people.

A strike by Gaza petrol station owners has been preventing distribution of limited Israeli supplies of gasoline and diesel to the general public.

Israeli officials accuse Hamas of preventing distribution of petrol and diesel in order to create a crisis to pressure Israel to ease a blockade it tightened after the Islamists took over. In a development likely to stoke further anger in Israel, Hamas said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who planned to travel later in the day to Egypt, would meet in Cairo with two of its Gaza-based leaders, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Saeed Seyam.

"Mr Carter asked for the meeting. He wanted to hear the Hamas vision regarding the situation, and we are interested in clarifying our position and emphasising the rights of our people," Hamas official Ayman Taha said.

Carter's delegation in Israel declined to comment.

Zahar, speaking in Gaza before leaving for Egypt, said Carter had been
able "to break all the restrictions preventing him from meeting Hamas
leaders".

Israeli leaders have shunned Carter over his contacts with Hamas, which
has rejected Western demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace deals.

Carter, who began a Middle East visit on Sunday, said in Arab East Jerusalem it would be counterproductive to exclude Hamas completely from "conversations or consultations".


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      1.   this is very sad...but unavoidable 18:15  |  jeremy 16/04/08
      2.   Reverting to type 18:17  |  Natallie Durson 16/04/08
      3.   Taking it out on children 18:21  |  Rafael 16/04/08
      4.   Whatever the target of this strike may have been..... 18:23  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/04/08
      5.   Not sure what this does 18:33  |  Dave Duncan 16/04/08
      6.   In moments like this, one tends to understand Gideon Levys...... 18:34  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/04/08
      7.   RIP to Reuters and civilians 18:35  |  Jens 16/04/08
      8.   Dino 18:36  |  Moses 16/04/08
      9.   1 Does Israel REALLY mourn the death of Pal civilians? 18:36  |  Michael 16/04/08
      10.   #1 = intelligent, sane, reasonable 18:38  |  Mark 16/04/08
      11.   where were you , dino, rapahael, natalie, clickfool..?...? 18:38  |  Gabriel 16/04/08
      12.   More disgraceful killing of Palestinians by the IDF 18:39  |  Dutch 16/04/08
      13.   To Swiss (Dino) 18:43  |  Oleg 16/04/08
      14.   Hamas is to blame. Hamas` blackmail will not deter Israel. 18:44  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 16/04/08
      15.   We need volunteers now! 18:46  |  Natallie Durson 16/04/08
      16.   NATALIE D 18:47  |  RANDY 16/04/08
      17.   #1, Jeremy, is the expansion of the settlements unavoidable? 18:51  |  newageblues 16/04/08
      18.   TO Natallie Durson 18:53  |  Oleg 16/04/08
      19.   Best way to make friends 18:55  |  Dundee 16/04/08
      20.   WOW, DURSON IS READY TO GO,WHAT IS SHE WAITING FOR 19:01  |  HAL TRIPP 16/04/08
      21.   # 8 Moses 19:03  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/04/08
      22.   Stop terror=no IDF attacks 19:05  |  DR 16/04/08
      23.   The only conclusion 19:07  |  Alex 16/04/08
      24.   @Jens: Reuters before civilians? 19:07  |  Amazed 16/04/08
      25.   The Timing Carefully Timed By Israel 19:08  |  Yaakov Sullivan 16/04/08
      26.   # 4 Better to look bad then dead 19:11  |  CM 16/04/08
      27.   Just come ND, just come here, don`t wait for the rest. 19:17  |  Waiting in Gaza 16/04/08
      28.   Natallie as a "human" shield ... 19:19  |  Rory 16/04/08
      29.   They are all civilians, all they have to do is take away the guns 19:21  |  Pervert 16/04/08
      30.   They are all civilians, all they have to do is take away the guns 19:21  |  Pervert 16/04/08
      31.   Long life Palestine 19:25  |  Gaza resident 16/04/08
      32.   Weak government 19:25  |  Maurice 16/04/08
      33.   DR, it is even simpler than that, 1+1=2 19:27  |  Pervert 16/04/08
      34.   Dutch Robot 19:28  |  Jabotinsky 16/04/08
      35.   Hams brings the fire on the civilians by hiding behind them and 19:29  |  r 16/04/08
      36.   Yankeleh, pitty Jimmy was not there when the IAF hit them. 19:29  |  Pervert 16/04/08
      37.   State terrorism 19:33  |  Joe 16/04/08
      38.   Two children dead, a cameraman, a 67 yr old man... 19:35  |  Silvienne 16/04/08
      39.   Numbers of casualty now is so important for Israel to raise the 19:36  |  Human Rights 16/04/08
      40.   #1 jeremy, Your comment needs a factual correction 19:36  |  Max Zinger,P.Chimist 16/04/08
      41.   Natalie my dear, you contradict yourself. 19:39  |  Allon 16/04/08
      42.   Very slick? 19:41  |  Terence 16/04/08
      43.   the coward retaliation 19:45  |  kaled 16/04/08
      44.   #10, Mark...you make my point, thank you... 19:45  |  Silvienne 16/04/08
      45.   Gaza 19:47  |  Gaza resident 16/04/08
      46.   jeremy #1 19:47  |  Roo 16/04/08
      47.   # 8 Moses (2nd try) 19:49  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/04/08
      48.   LONG DEAD ARAB CALIPHATE! 19:50  |  Genuine Tosefta 16/04/08
      49.   # 18 CM 19:54  |  Swiss (Dino) 16/04/08
      50.   God save the Queen! 19:57  |  Shield Human 16/04/08
      51.   Moses it takes real talent to be as sanctimious as dino 20:00  |  x-ray 16/04/08
      52.   # 18 DR--Stop terror=No IDF attack. 20:04  |  BOBBY 16/04/08
      53.   Grim 20:04  |  Colin Wright 16/04/08
      54.   This crap will continue until Israel stops playing by Hamas rule 20:08  |  common sense 16/04/08
      55.   #9 Michael, re: mourning 20:21  |  Gideon 16/04/08
      56.   Natallie Durson bags packed 20:22  |  David Israel 16/04/08
      57.   To Number 31 20:23  |  Michael Traxton 16/04/08
      58.   Natalie D`s twisted logic 20:26  |  Kevin Noonan 16/04/08
      59.   I bet terrorists were using the TV vehicle 20:30  |  B 16/04/08
      60.   No coincidence that Carter visit brings surge in violence 20:31  |  Voice of Reason 16/04/08
      61.   Typical response of a cruel occupation army 20:33  |  Ben Alofs 16/04/08
      62.   Israeli soldiers are cowards 20:35  |  Mark 16/04/08
      63.   #12 is fake 20:35  |  Natallie Durson 16/04/08
      64.   TO NO 4 SWISS DINO. 20:36  |  DANNY. 16/04/08
      65.   Criminals 20:38  |  Aminov 16/04/08
      66.   TO NO 16 20:40  |  HAL TRIPP. 16/04/08
      67.   Swiss , Unavoidable casualties , unfortunatly 20:47  |  TOMY 16/04/08
      68.   #58 (Aminov) 20:52  |  B 16/04/08
      69.   palestinian deaths