GAZA: Palestinians awake to massive destruction after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza targets.

Record ID: 340265

  • Title: GAZA: Palestinians awake to massive destruction after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza targets.
  • Date: 15th August 2006
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2006 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA9XUD72XVIXKJM25GWO0KUHY4E
  • Story Text: Palestinians awoke to massive destruction on Tuesday (August 15) after an overnight Israeli airstrike razed two buildings to rubble.
    Israeli aircraft carried out two air strikes in Gaza, hitting houses where members of militant group were living, witnesses and the Israeli army said.
    The first strike, in the Jabalya refugee camp, targeted the home of a member of Islamic Jihad, a group which earlier on Monday fired at least two rockets into Israel, the army said.
    Residents of the building were told to leave before the strike, but medics said eight people living nearby were injured. A vehicle parked outside the building was set ablaze.
    The second strike, in the Beit Hanoun district of northern Gaza, hit a house where a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of militant groups, was living, residents of the area said.
    The Israeli army said the house was being used to store weapons.
    Again, those living in the building were told to leave before the attack. One person was taken to hospital, medics said.
    Israel has carried out a series of air strikes in Gaza over recent weeks, targeting suspected militant hideouts and factories used for making make-shift rockets.
    Attacks were stepped up after the June 25th kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Gaza militants. The soldier is still being held.
    Since his seizure, Israeli forces have carried out repeated incursions into the Gaza Strip both to try to locate the soldier and to put a stop to the firing of rockets by militants into Israel.
    Earlier on Monday (August 14) at least four rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, but there were no reports of any injuries.
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