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Israeli shell kills seven in Gaza

by BBC (reposted)
Seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire in northern Gaza.
The dead were all youngsters, according to their relatives, killed after they rushed outside to watch an exchange between militants and Israeli soldiers.

The Israelis say six of the dead were 17 and older, and that some were members of the militant group Hamas.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, in unusually inflammatory language, prayed for the "martyrs who fell today to the shells of the Zionist enemy".

He was speaking to thousands of supporters at a rally in Khan Younis, a stronghold of Palestinian militant groups, and later cancelled a visit to the hospital that received the casualties amid fears of more violence.

Mr Abbas, viewed by the US and Israel as the best Palestinian partner for peace negotiations, is heavily tipped to become Palestinian president in an election on Sunday.

He opposes the continuation of the armed uprising against Israel.

In a separate incident later on Tuesday, a Palestinian was killed in a shoot-out with Israeli soldiers east of Gaza City, Palestinian hospital officials said.

Mutilated

The seven killed were hit by Israeli fire in a strawberry field near the town of Beit Lahiya, close to Gaza's border with Israel.

The Israeli army says it opened fire on a group of nine masked men equipped with missile launchers, to stop them firing mortars at nearby Israeli targets. An Israeli civilian had reportedly been injured a short while before.

Palestinian witnesses, however, say the militants escaped before the tank opened fire and it was the children and teenagers who were hit as they rushed out of a farmhouse to watch the action.

Dr Mahmoud al-Asli, director of a hospital in Beit Lahiya that received the casualties, said the dead were aged between 11 and 17, the Associated Press reported.

Hospital sources also said that some of the dead were so mutilated that it initially proved difficult to identify them.

Relatives added that six of them were from the same family and that three of the boys were brothers.

Palestinian militants have been waging a four-year intifada or uprising against Israel, whose forces have occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank since 1967.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is planning to pull out all 8,000 Israeli settlers and the troops who protect them from 21 fortified enclaves in Gaza. Israel will maintain control of Gaza's borders, coastline and airspace.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4144695.stm
by Ha'aretz
Seven Palestinians were killed Tuesday, including six members of the same family, when an Israel Defense Forces tank shell hit an agricultural area in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia.
Eight others were reportedly wounded in the incident, two of them seriously.

The Israeli fire apparently came in response to Palestinian mortar attacks on the Erez industrial zone between Israel and Gaza that lightly wounded two Israeli civilians.

The six members of the Raban family killed in the incident included three brothers, Hanni, 16, Mahmoud, 14, and Bisaam, 13. Also killed were three of their cousins, Muhammed, 22, Jabir, 12, and Rajikh, 10, as well as their neighbor, Jabril al-Casiah, 20.

The IDF confirmed that troops fired a tank shell at the Palestinians, saying the target was a rocket-launching terror cell. An initial investigation indicated that most of the Palestinians killed were members of the military wing of Hamas, the army said.

A Palestinian farmer who gave only his first name, Suleiman, said militants had been firing mortar shells from among strawberry patches and potato fields when IDF troops returned fire.

David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, said in response that the Palestinians were using civilians as cover.

"Palestinian terrorists continue to not only target Israeli civilians, but have no qualms hiding behind their own civilians," Baker said. "Israel is compelled to take the necessary measures to stop the terror apparatus from inflicting damage on its communities and civilians."

Before the IDF tank fire, Palestinians fired four mortar shells at the industrial zone, one of which landed near a school bus, and two Qassam rockets at the Negev town of Sderot. A few hours after the incident, Palestinians fired two more Qassam rockets at Sderot, leaving three people suffering from shock.

Meanwhile, two powerful explosions went off near Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' motorcade on his way to visit the survivors of the tank fire. He was unharmed, but called off his hospital visit.

Palestinian security officials said Palestinian militants had fired two homemade rockets from near the hospital toward Israeli targets. Israel Radio said Abbas' bodyguards called off the visit, fearing an Israeli reprisal.

Palestinian militants have stepped up mortar and rocket fire on settlements in Gaza and border towns in recent weeks, and the IDF has been operating in Gaza in an attempt to put an end to the continuing attacks. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has warned the military would respond harshly.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/522902.html
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