GAZA: Israeli warplanes strike in Gaza following Palestinian suicide bombing and Palestinian cabinet holds meeting amid chaos

Record ID: 341391

  • Title: GAZA: Israeli warplanes strike in Gaza following Palestinian suicide bombing and Palestinian cabinet holds meeting amid chaos
  • Date: 1st April 2006
  • Summary: (BN17) GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP (APRIL 1, 2006) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) PALESTINIAN AMBULANCE AT SITE OF SECOND MISSILE ATTACK PALESTINIAN YOUTH HOLDING MISSILE PART, DROPPING IT METAL PART OF MISSILE BEING LOOKED AT BY PALESTINIANS PALESTINIANS WALKING THROUGH GATE OF STADIUM GROUND HIT BY ISRAELI MISSILES PALESTINIANS AT PUBLIC GARDEN HIT BY ISRAELI MISSILES IN THIRD AIRSTR
  • Embargoed: 16th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA1UWRXGUK92UQ2MVKBNTX00UBZ
  • Story Text: Israel launched a wave of air strikes at targets in northern and central Gaza early on Saturday (April 1), local witnesses and the army said.
    No casualties were reported in at least three strikes including two in Gaza city.
    An army spokesman told Reuters earlier that the military was set to intensify action, including pre-emptive strikes at launching areas which militants use to fire rockets into the Jewish state.
    The Israeli missiles hit a four-story high building in northern Gaza, a stadium ground and a public garden in Gaza City, witnesses said.
    Late on Friday (March 31) two rockets were fired from northern Gaza by Palestinian militants, one hitting an open field in southern Israel, the army said.
    The attacks came more than a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up inside an Israeli vehicle in the West Bank, killing four Israelis.
    Israeli officials said the bomber was disguised as a religious Jewish hitchhiker and blew himself up when Israelis in a car picked him up near a settlement late on Thursday (March 30).
    The suicide bombing was claimed by al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The group, which is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, named the bomber as 24-year old Ahmed Mahmoud Masharqa, from the West Bank city of Hebron.
    Abbas condemned the attack.
    Hamas, which took control of the Palestinian Authority in January elections, described the suicide bombing as a "natural response to Israeli crimes".
    Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called an emergency meeting of ministers on Friday to discuss the latest flare up of internal fighting between militants and Palestinian security forces.
    A car explosion near a Gaza mosque killed a top Palestinian militant on Friday, triggering gun battles in which three others died after fighters accused Palestinian security chiefs of collaborating with Israel.
    Palestinian Health Minister Basim Naeem said 36 people were wounded in the fighting, including seven children. The violence followed a blast that killed Abu Youssef al-Quqa, a senior militant leader in the Popular Resistance Committees.
    Israel denied any involvement in the killing.
    The partial cabinet announced it would investigate the killing.
    A statement read by Information Minister Youssef Rizqa after the meeting said the ministers had ordered the removal of the armed men from the streets but he stopped short of blaming Israel for Quqa's killing.
    "The government has decided to set up an investigation to find out who are the criminals who are behind this and to bring them to justice. Third, we want to stop the escalation in the media and the war of words. Fourth, to withdraw the gunmen from the streets and to eliminate all the manifestations of tension in the streets," Rizqa said.
    Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh appealed for calm.
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