GAZA: Israeli airstrike targets and kills two Palestinian gunmen near the Gaza border

Record ID: 341489

  • Title: GAZA: Israeli airstrike targets and kills two Palestinian gunmen near the Gaza border
  • Date: 13th April 2006
  • Summary: (BN14) JABALYA, GAZA CITY, GAZA (APRIL 12, 2006) (REUTERS) (NIGHTSHOTS) CLOSE UP SIGN READING 'ALSHIFA HOSPITAL' BODIES BEING TAKEN OUT OF AMBULANCES AND BROUGHT INTO MORGUE (2 SHOTS) FAMILY MEMBERS MOURNING (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF BODIES BEING PLACED IN MORGUE (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA79O73HMYNXA9F5QTPOJQZHEBP
  • Story Text: An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinian gunmen near the Gaza border on Wednesday (April 12) as Israel again targeted militants in the area.
    An army spokeswoman said an Israeli aircraft fired at two men who had approached the Israel-Gaza frontier while holding rifles. Palestinian security forces said the militants belonged to al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and were on the way to plant bombs.
    Palestinian medics and the group, which is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, confirmed the men's identities and deaths. The militant group has been involved in dozens of rocket attacks against Israel.
    The Palestinian government, which the Islamic militant group Hamas won control over after a January election, said in a newly-released statement that Israel's recent attacks in Gaza were aimed at strangling the new administration.
    Israel, the United States and the European Union have cut direct aid to the Palestinian Authority in wake of Hamas's win and have called on it to renounce violence and recognise the Jewish state and interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
    In its statement, the Hamas-led Palestinian government called the EU's action "collective punishment" and a "green light to the Israeli occupation to continue its aggression against the Palestinian people."
    Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction and has spearheaded a suicide bombing campaign against it during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000. But it has largely abided by a truce since last year.
    Palestinian witnesses said a gunfight between Gaza militants and Israeli forces had broken out near the area prior to the airstrike. The violence, which has escalated in recent weeks, occurred on the eve of the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday.
    Israel has increased airstrikes and shelling of Gaza in response to militants firing rockets into Israel. The army has intensified the shelling since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed four Israelis in a West Bank settlement last month.
    The Israeli army killed a Palestinian girl and wounded 12 others, including five children, on Monday when an artillery shell hit a house in northern Gaza.
    The Jewish state says it is not intentionally targeting civilians and has warned residents to leave parts of northern Gaza from where the makeshift rockets are regularly launched.
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