GAZA: ISRAELI FORCES CLASH WITH GUNMEN IN REFUGEE CAMPS HOURS AFTER KILLING FOUR PALESTINIANS

Record ID: 275173

  • Title: GAZA: ISRAELI FORCES CLASH WITH GUNMEN IN REFUGEE CAMPS HOURS AFTER KILLING FOUR PALESTINIANS
  • Date: 2nd January 2003
  • Summary: (W8)GAZA CITY, GAZA (JANUARY 1, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV AMBULANCES ARRIVING AT SHIFA HOSPITAL; MV EMERGENCY WORKERS PLACING BODY OF ONE OF THE PALESTINIANS KILLED ON A STRETCHER AND WHEELING IT INTO HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.28 2. MV/SCU DOCTOR EXAMINING BODY OF ONE OF THOSE KILLED BY ISRAELIS (4 SHOTS) 0.51 3. MV BODY OF PALESTINIAN BEING WHEELE
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GAZA CITY, NUSAIRAT AND BUREIJ REFUGEE CAMPS, GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA23GF3N9KDTKUOA9QG0QT7M341
  • Story Text: Israeli forces clashed with gunmen in two Gaza Strip
    refugee camps, hours after the army killed four Palestinians
    who it said had been en route to attacks on Jewish
    settlements.

    The three poorly armed youths were shot after sneaking
    into a fenced-in Israeli buffer zone in northern Gaza after
    dark on Wednesday (January 1, 2003), approaching the Elei Sinai
    settlement armed only with wire-cutters and a knife in an
    apparent suicide mission, the army said.

    Colonel Ofer Shafran, based in the area, said they were
    dressed in dark civilian clothes and were advancing in a
    crouch, commando-style.

    Palestinian security sources and the youths' relatives
    said the youths had apparently acted independently, as they
    had no known militant affiliations. Palestinian minors have
    taken on similar "suicide missions" on at least two other
    occasions.

    Hours later Israeli forces clashed with gunmen in two Gaza
    Strip refugee camps.

    Israeli military sources confirmed the night-time
    operation took place in Nusairat and Bureij camps in the
    central Gaza Strip early on Thursday (January 2), considered
    among the strongholds of Palestinian militants waging a more
    than two-year-old uprising for independence.

    Ambulance workers said several Palestinians were wounded.

    The new violence came amid U.S. calls for Middle East calm
    to avoid jarring Washington's plans for possible war on Iraq.

    Called to arms from mosque loudspeakers, gunmen flocked to
    the streets of Nusairat and Bureij and exchanged shots with
    Israeli troops on the outskirts of the camps, scattering
    occasionally under fire from assault helicopters overhead.

    Red tracer rounds lanced the dark like lasers.

    Armoured bulldozers were visible among the Israeli forces.

    In the past, these have been used during incursions to
    demolish the family homes of Palestinian suicide bombers and
    other militants in what Israel calls a deterrent measure.

    The troops withdrew after two hours leaving dozens of
    gunmen jubilant at their "victory". A food storage building on
    the outskirts of Bureij was damaged by an Israeli tank, but
    there was no indication of what the mission was meant to
    achieve.

    Palestinian militants waging an independence uprising in
    the West Bank and Gaza Strip have regularly carried attacked
    targets in Israel proper, mostly suicide bombings and
    shootings sprees.

    The rate of suicide attacks has declined in recent months
    and the army attributes this in part to demolition's of homes
    belonging to families of militants. At least 1,759
    Palestinians and 675 Israelis have died in fighting which
    erupted in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.


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