Two hurt in missile strike on bus carrying students near Gaza
16-year-old seriously wounded after anti-tank missile strikes school bus; IDF strikes Gaza Strip moments following bus attack, killing one and wounding five.
By Anshel Pfeffer, Yanir Yagna and Haaretz Service Tags: Israel news Gaza Hamas IDFTwo people were wounded Thursday after an anti-tank missile exploded into a bus traveling in one of the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip.
Following the attack, 16 additional mortar shells were fired at Israeli towns in the western Negev, most of them hitting open areas.
 |
Bus damaged by missile strike from Gaza which wounded two people, April 7, 2011. |
| Photo by: Ilan Assayag |
Magen David Adom crew who arrived at the scene said that a 16-year-old boy was critically wounded as a result of the attack, and that the bus driver was moderately hurt by shrapnel wounds in his leg.
"The boy was lying on the ground bleeding. The bus driver was conscious and hysterical. The entire bus destroyed – it was a horrifying sight," said a member of the rescue service.
MDA said that the rescue services resuscitated the boy and later transferred him to the hospital. MDA also said the bus was nearly empty after dropping off school children and was carrying only the driver and the 16-year-old boy at the time of the attack.
Residents of communities near the site of attack were instructed by authorities to stay inside their homes in case the strikes at Israeli towns will continue.
Following the attack, the Israel Defense Forces quickly retaliated and launched both land and air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, the IDF spokesperson said, killing a 50-year-old man and wounding five others.
Defense Minister, Ehud Barak ordered the army to respond quickly and said he held the Hamas militant group, which rules Gaza, responsible for the violence. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.
The strike came following several weeks of tension and mutual attacks along Israel's border with the Hamas-ruled Strip, with Israel Defense Forces aircraft striking smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza earlier Thursday.
On Tuesday, IDF tanks fired at and killed an armed Palestinian approaching the Gaza Strip's border with Israel on Tuesday, as three mortar bombs exploded in Israeli soil.
The incident took place after an IDF force spotted an armed Palestinian near the Erez crossing at the Strip's north, later directing tank fire to the spot. No injuries were reported from among the soldiers.
On Saturday, IDF planes struck a vehicle travelling at the south of the Gaza Strip, killing three Hamas operatives, one of them a top commander in Hamas' military wing.
An IDF Spokesperson stated that the three men were members of a terrorist cell that was "planning to kidnap Israelis over the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover" in Israel and in the Sinai Peninsula, a popular spring tourist destination for Israelis.
The Palestinian Ma'an news agency identified the three as Isma’il Labad and his brother Abdullah from Ash-Shati' refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and military commander Muhammad Ad-Dayah from the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
Ad-Dayah, 33, is considered to be a top Hamas military official. As a child he participated in the first intifada, later serving as the bodyguard of former Hamas chief Abdel Aziz Rantisi. Ad-Dayah also lost one of his eyes during an attempted mortar attack on a nearby settlement.
Hamas vowed vengeance against Israel in a statement Saturday, describing the strike as a crime and "serious escalation" of the recent violence, and vowed that Israel would "bear all the consequences." The militant group also called on the U.S. to stop the flow of financial aid to Israel.
Prior to the attack, Palestinian militants have fired rocket salvos into Israel, reaching as far as the major southern city Be'er Sheva, and Israel has carried out a series of air strikes.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
"Hamas would respect any peace deal reached between Israel and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, provided it is approved in a global Palestinian referendum, the top Hamas official in Gaza said Wednesday. In a rare news conference for foreign media, Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of Gaza's Hamas government, staked out seemingly pragmatic positions. He said Hamas seeks dialogue with the West and wants to be "part of the solution, not the problem." (2 Dec. 2010)// Hamas had these positions for some years now. Hamas will even agree to peace, if the Palestinians vote for it. This change in Hamas' implacable initial position resulted from world pressure which caused an evolutionary change so as to make Hamas survivable (see Darwin). It can be assumed however that as long as Hamas is shunned by the world, they will remain rejectionists; after all, what else would be left for them? The key is within the Palestinian nation itself. Abbas and Hamas must resolve their differences first and present a unified front to the world. They will be wise to agree to this, even though Israel is trying to prevent it. Unity will strengthen the Palestinian position, and Israel will gain a more reliable peace partner. As long as Israel rejects Hamas, there will be projectiles coming over as a reminder.
...there wouldn't be anything left of that bus
Israel shelled Gaza back. But, what target? Of course civillians again! One man died and a 4 yrs old child is injured. Can anyone explain the difference of IDF and Hamas then?
This is getting either party no where. In a perfect world, Israel, the bigger, the better, the more powerful, should end the siege, stop the illegal settlements, and give no reason for rockets to be fired. Unfortunately, arrogance and hatred have prevented either side from giving their people peace.
Would Turkish-ruled Cyprus be willing to take in 1.5 million Gazan refugees? I mean, REAL refugees this time. Not the fake ones living in Gaza today.
This will dramatically reduce Hamas ability to move heavy GRAD rockets and mortar teams. Possibility civilians might be in some of them? Didn't bother US, UN and NATO when they repeatedly attacked trains in Serbia war, killing dozens of commuter train passengers, so it must be OK.
May the critically wounded boy have a speedy recovery, both physically and mentally, and may his family find hope and strength in the Source of Life which blesses his recovery. May the leaders of Israel be wise and strong in knowing how to deal with this.
From the series of recent attacks it seems that Palestinians decided to specifically target children . Fogel babies , school in Jerusalem ,now a school bus ..
Israel begain their illegal occupation 44 years ago? The Pals have the right to resist illegal occupation and colonization by whatever means necessary. Israel does NOT have the right to occupy and colonize land and airspace and territorial waters outside the Green Line..
disagrees with both your opinions, as does common logic
Between 1948 and 1956 there were many fedayeen attacks coming out of Gaza and many Israelis were killed. This was stopped only after the 1956 Suez War, when the UN sttationed an emergency force in the Gazaq Strip. But when Egyptian President, who ruled Gaza from 1948-1956, expelled the UN force in 1967, closed the Straits of Tiran and sent his forces into Sinai, then Israel conquered the Gaza Strip. After Israel unilatrerally left Gaza in 2005, the Gazans strted firing missiles at Israel and haven't stopped since.
What goes around comes around
Do not stop until you crush Hamas and all terrorist organizations, re take control of Gaza, set up military outpost in strategic areas i.e. Egypt Gaza boarder. Then if the PA wants to negotiate peace, in slowly and in stages Israel can allow the PA to retake contol of Gaza. The PA must show they can stop terrorism in the areas they control as well as stop all incitment befor they take over the next area etc.
There are plenty supporters of violence, terror, murder, religious fundamentalism, oppression and reaction in the world. They are now planning a "humanitarian flotilla" to Gaza with the intention to break sea blockade of Gaza. It's very probable that they are planning to smuggle more anti-tank missiles on board and it's absolutely certain, that their goal is free arming of terrorists in Gaza. For some reason they are calling themselves "human rights activists". The actions of them and of their ilk discredited the very concept of the human rights.
Read the Likud charter---sounds just like the Hamas one except Hamas has passed it to a referendum amongst Palestinians. The zionist entity has refused to ever allow a Palestinian State as clearly proven in the Likud charter, a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing.
Unbelievable.
Their cynicism is boundless.
The brazen impudence of a rag-tag gazans that solely rely on outside world for protection AFTER THEY PURPOSELY TARGET JEWISH/ISRAELI civilians is simply stunning. They really and truly do not deserve to have any kind of state. The best solution is to MOVE ALL OF THEM to Jordan where they would be treated exactly how 80% of their peers living there....
I hear crickets....
It's a good thing it was empty except for one sadly injured boy. Suppose it had been full of children!
Where is the outrage from America and Obama! Let the Civil wars happen, let the Muslimes kill each other....the Quran will burn in America in every BBQ on the 4th of JULY!
both Israel and Gaza-militants are ready for Cast-Lead 2. I pity the civillians on both sides! they are seriously misled not to mention mismanaged!
Let Egypt supply them.
They have electricity now?
They have electricity now?
for the matter of hours if government will take all necessary steps. Main purpose of any government is a safety of it's people .They should fulfill this task using ANY means And world's opinion about this means should be throw out.
Israeli government should stop fooling around and lift the siege of Gaza and stop bombing Gaza people. They should free all the Arabs hold in prison without any charge. And they should start removing those illegal settlements. It doesn't matter what the world or lunatic settlers say. Israel should do what it's right. Israel should do its part using ANY means!
Give everything they have stolen back to the Palestinians, pay compensation for the countless lives they've cut short and strike peace. Naaw! Too much work. War is easier and more satisfying. N
Stolen? When an entity of thugs wants to destroy our people, from Day One, making Israeli defense necessary, nothing is stolen. The Arab abomination you defend by thowing around words like stolen, shows you need serious educatin'. Pay compensation? To a murderous thugocracy. The land should be cleansed from Hamas, for the sake of both people. Israel should have a Zero Tolerance policy. Like every other country on the planet. Had the arrogant Arab not attacked Israel for the past 63 years, they may even have a Country. WHY didn't Jordan arrange a Country for them before 1967?? Jordan knew the real deal with this backwards Arab thugocracy. And, you defend them. Speaks volumes about you.
brings peace, not bombs at a schol bus. and Hamas knows what a school bus is, its yellow and black with stop signs and red lights, see the picture above
Is that any different than Israel's targeting and bombing a car in Sudan yesterday? How many violations of international law did Israel commit? Oh, I forgot, Israel is the other country in the world which is not bound by international law. Never mind that then.
Yes you are right - there is no difference between: 1. Killing an arms smuggler taking weapons from Iran (under sanction for exporting any weaponry) to a terrorist organization (Hamas) that aims those weapons at civilian targets. Plus Sudan remains officially at war with Israel (declared by Sudan in 1967) 2. Purposely targeting a school bus full of children in a civilian community in pre1967 Israeli territory without any surroudning miliitary targets. I suppose in your mind, the Allies attacking Normany in WWII was morally equivalent to the Nazi gas chambers. I mean they both killed people right...
Targetting military targets in war is a legitime warfare, while targetting school bus is a war crime. Anybody who knows what the concept of human rights means, would understand the difference.
Bus or car doesn't matter. It's the *contents* that count. You're talking about a bus containing *civilians* versus a car that contained an arms smuggler. And since when is fighting for your survival and defending yourself by killing an arms smuggler a "violation of international law"? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, I'm talking to an Israel-hater.
Do you suppose that the bus was carrying rockets, guns, ammunition, and grenades along with its one driver and one sixteen year old student?
The bravery of Palestinian "resistence" is simply breath taking.
Is that like a slignshot? Were they throwing bottles at the bus? Maybe rocks?
Such as a 9M133 "Kornet" Anti-Tank Guided Missile. And in case you're mind is still negociating the use of 'guided' with your inherent sense of bias, let me spell it out for you: To be fired, one needs to aquire a target visually; meaning the terrorists who fired the missile SAW it was a civilian bus and DIRECTLY aimed their missile at it.
Or does severely injuring a 13 year old child only merit semi-sweets since after all he is not dead yet.
What happened to the "Iron Dome" system?
This Arab coward shot an anti-tank missile or mortar bomb at a school bus that was obviously much closer
How do you think Israel had access to Hamas targets so quickly. Remember that Iron Dome tracks incoming rockets. That same mechanism produces a backtracking feature that pinpoints the EXACT place of the rockets launch enabling immediate retaliatory strikes. Hamas can run but they can not hide anymore!
Hamas is drowning.
Wishing the injured a speedy recovery
note the attempted murderous intentions and the number of times you try to kill Israeli civillians, being as usual too gutless to face the IDF man to man wearing your uniforms.
Both sides kill or injure civilians, unhappily.
Save your taqiya for the UN Human rights commission.
We must always ask ourselves, "who was the target?" If the target of the mission was civilians, it's terrorism. If civilians die unintentionally in a military operation, then it is not terrorism. Otherwise, the Allied bombing of Dresden, which killed many, many civilians, would be morally equivalent to the Nazis' attempted genocide of all the Jews.
Even Golstone established that if Pales civilians are touched is not the defacto policy of the idf.
These Gaza Arabs are attacking civilian buses and yet the article calls them 'militants'. If a Jew were to attack Arab teenagers on a bus, would he be a 'militant' too?
However, if they used a fighter jet, then, they would not be called a "terrorist" that's exactly what Israel did in Yemen yesterday. They too should be rightfully called terrorists
You sound like Hamas wanting to create as many civillian casualties as possible,as usual.
It's such a simple message, but, they just don't seem to understand it.
It's such a simple message, but, you just don't seem to understand it.
The occupation ended in Gaza has hamas and other organisation decided not to turn this into a war zone there is a good possibility that over the same peiod there would have been withdrawal for large sections of the west bank ... As much as all of the woes of the palestinian people are the responsibility of Israel and we are caught in a tit for tat situation, there were numerous windows of the opportunity that the Palestinians both insist on missing and after forget that they actually were ever their. Anyone who doesnt think the withdrawal from Gaza was a historic opportunity for Palestinians is simply ignoring the reality. So I say it again stop firing rockets
You people should read what Hamas says instead of playing dumb
But Gaza is not occupied, what bothers arabs is that jews occupy a place on earth
What do you mean by "occupation"? According to the Palestinians all Israel is occupied Arab land. Do you also mean that the land of Israel should be ethnically cleansed of Jews?
Then how do you explain the attacks that happens before 67 genius
Right! Tell the occupying Arabs to go back to Egypt or Jordan and the whole mess will go away.
How do you explain the Stern Gang in the 30s?
otherwise you are at war and you can target school buses. One observation about Israel , it can tell the difference between a school bus and a hamas arms merchant in the sudan. superior morality i guess
Or perhaps there are plenty of IDF target to choose they just perfer softer targets like buses.
How many has it been in three months since the beginning of the year? A few dozen? Terrorism by any other name is still terrorism. Just because you have tanks, airplanes and bombs doesn't make you less of a terrorist
Cast Lead started when children in Gaza were leaving for or coming back from school
Interesting, how suddenly when the palestinians intentionally shoot a missile at a civilian bus, there are no comments from all of the paper's extreme left-wing readers. No condemnation, guys? No screaming and yelling about targeting civilians? Why is it that only when Israeli's (accidently!) wound Palestinian civilians, is there an uproar? Shame on all of you self-haters! More than the Palestinians themselves, you are your own worst enemies!
Goldstone retracted his report. Nice try.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the focus of world leaders over the last several decades as they have worked to bring about a resolution to this conflict. However, the truth be known, as revealed in the recent Hamas declaration, the elimination of the Jewish state of Israel is a Palestinian principle. Both Bible history and prophecy confirm this Palestinian principle. In the book of Genesis, we have the record of the birth of Jacob and Esau, Genesis 25:23-26. In Genesis 27, the account of Jacob stealing the birthright and blessing from Esau reveals that Esau then made a pledge to kill Jacob. History down through 4000 years has revealed to us the conflict continues even until today with Jacob, the Jewish people of today, and Esau, the Palestinian people of today, still in that conflict of 4000 years. Bible prophecy foretold of this conflict during the end times. Ezekiel, the ancient Jewish prophet, wrote that the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, the Palestinian people today, would want to kill the Jews, the descendants of Jacob, and then take the land that God had given to them, Ezekiel 35. The Hamas plan to eliminate the Jewish state of Israel is indeed a page out of Bible prophecy, Bible prophecy that will be fulfilled.
The truth of the matter is that the present Israel is fake and not the original one. Read the book of revelation chapter 2 and 3 which talks about the fake jews who shall bow down before the real jews. So who are these fake jews the bible talks about? Which people are claiming to be jews and yet they are not? The throne of David shifted during the time of Solomon through the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who was named Menelik I or David as Solomon called him. Please check the Kebra Nagast. This unbroken leanage came all the way through to the King of Kings and Lord of LordS, the conquering Lion Of The Tribe of Judah Haile Selassie Ii, Jah Ras Tafari, whose throne still had and has the star of David, same as one on the present day Israeli flag. It is no secret that the ark of the covenant was taken from Jerusalem to Ethiopia by Menelik I iwth the fisrt born sons of Israel, who are today called the Falashas or black jews.This ark is and has been in Ethiopia since then. So the old Jerusalem has passed away and we have a new one, Addis Ababa, the new flower in Zion Africa, the original Ethiopia. This big lie of the promised land by fake jews has led to this fight that will never end because of this lie.
Let's wait and see what sick logical back-flips posters come up with now. Perhaps the driver of the bus noticed that projectile was heading nowhere, so he decided to reverse into its line of fire...?
Where is Iron Dome?
So it won't be effective against any but the heaviest 120mm moarters. That said, by saying "projectile", the report indicates that it could possibly be an guided anti-tank missile.
It was only for giving money to US. It's useless.
The Iron Dome System is a defensive system designed to destroy rockets and mortars in flight. It doesn't work against anti-tank rockets, rocket propelled grenades or any similar weapon. Same with the Arrow system I am sure it will perform brilliantly against Scud missiles. It's just a pity that those who would use scud missiles are now changing their arsenals to cruise missiles
see a shrink
Karl, what world are you living in. There never was and still isn't a country called Palestine. In addition there is no occupation of the gaza strip. The only thing in the gaza strip are terrorists who like to try and kill innocent civilians. Too bad they don't spend their time trying to educate their people and try to live a better life.
hey buddy, i hate to break it to you, gaza is not occupied...
Gaza is not occupied. Israel pulled out in 2005. Sad to see people supporting terrorism against innocent civillians.
Really? Why don't you go tell that to the people of Gaza. Better yet, wonder what you'd think if you were living there.
There never was and still isn't a country called Israel. There is however an illegal entity called Israel which bombed, extorted, terrorized and blackmailed itself into existence
I am going to share this "highly sensitive, top secret" information with you: Israel was founded about 3300 years ago, by descendants of Abraham who actually blackmailed Egyptian Pharaohs to escape the slavery. Oh, and yes, they were helped by a "big brother" who killed many Egyptian children at the time...