- Title: GAZA: Israeli air strike kills eight Palestinians militants near Khan Younis
- Date: 9th April 2006
- Summary: (W5) GAZA CITY, GAZA (APRIL 8, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HAMAS LEADER AND SPOKESMAN MUSHIR AL MASRI WALKING TOWARDS CAMERA
- Embargoed: 24th April 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVACR23YPCXTZRSRY05A490XZDH4
- Story Text: Israeli airstrikes killed eight Gaza militants on Saturday (April 8), the latest in what Palestinian leaders called an "escalation" of violence aimed at blackmailing them into concessions.
Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party won an election in March and plans on Sunday to begin formal talks with parties to form a cabinet, had vowed an "iron" response against a surge of rocket attacks from Gaza.
Fourteen Palestinians have died in Israeli air strikes since Friday, including 13 militants and a five-year-old boy.
The latest strike, near the town of Khan Younis, targeted a training camp used by the Abu el-Reesh Brigades militant group, which is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. Four of the six militants killed were family members.
An earlier Israeli airstrike killed two militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is also part of Fatah.
Two Palestinians were also wounded by Israeli artillery shells that hit their house in northern Gaza, where Israel has focused its strikes against rocket-launchers.
Interior Minister and Hamas leader Sayid Seyam called the Israeli attacks "an escalation of aggression".
Dozens of angry Palestinian militants took to the streets of Khan Younis in an improvised funeral procession for one of the six men killed.
Witnesses said that the men took the body from the hospital and began marching with it in the town, chanting slogans and shooting into the air.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri told Reuters Television that continuing Israeli aggression is an act of crime against the Palestinian people.
"What happened is a (Israeli) national terror working on scaring the Palestinian people and trying to force them to change their stands. This is an attempt to pressure (the Palestinians) by the international community which takes sides and is supporting the terrorist and criminal occupation," al-Masri told Reuters Television in Gaza city shortly after the last airstrike.
"In front of that the Palestinian resistance have the right to retaliate and Israeli alone will be responsible for the outcomes," he added.
Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said earlier on Saturday his government, formed after the militant group won a January election, would not bow to foreign pressure to recognise Israel and disavow violence despite funding cuts that are pushing the Palestinian Authority to financial collapse.
The United States and the European Commission suspended direct aid on Friday to Haniyeh's new Hamas-led government until it renounced violence, recognised Israel's right to exist and supported internationally backed Middle East peace initiatives.
Israel has also stopped turning over about $50 million a month in taxes and customs revenue it collected on behalf of the Palestinians under previous agreements and its banks have begun cutting ties with the Palestinians.
Hamas, a fundamentalist Islamic movement that is sworn to Israel's destruction and has carried out more than 60 suicide bombings since a 2000 uprising, won a sweeping victory in parliamentary elections in January.
Hamas has largely abided by a year-long truce but other militant groups have stepped up rocket attacks from Gaza. Israel has vowed to target militants involved in such attacks and has increased air strikes and artillery shellings in the area.
On Friday, in the deadliest strike in five months, missiles hit a car leaving a militant training base in the southern Gaza Strip, killing five militants and the 5-year-old son of one of them who came to watch his father train. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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