VARIOUS: AN ISRAELI MISSILE STRIKE ON THE HOME OF A HAMAS OFFICIAL HAS KILLED TWO PEOPLE BUT MISSED ITS TARGET MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR

Record ID: 342245

  • Title: VARIOUS: AN ISRAELI MISSILE STRIKE ON THE HOME OF A HAMAS OFFICIAL HAS KILLED TWO PEOPLE BUT MISSED ITS TARGET MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR
  • Date: 11th September 2003
  • Summary: (W3) GAZA CITY, GAZA (SEPTEMBER 10, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV SMOKE FROM MISSILE STRIKE BILLOWING ABOVE CITY BUILDINGS (4 SHOTS) 0.38 2. HAS INJURED PERSON WRAPPED IN BLANKETS BEING TAKEN ON STRETCHER THROUGH CROWD TO AMBULANCE; CROWDS ON STREET NEAR SITE OF STRIKE 1.21 3. HAS PAN SLV MEN STANDING ON ROOF OF DESTROYED BUILDING; SLV BULLDOZER DRIVING THROUGH CROWD TO MOVE RUBBLE; SLV PEOPLE CLAMBERING OVER RUBBLE (5 SHOTS) 2.08 (W3) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (FILE) (REUTERS) 4. MV HAMAS OFFICIAL MAHMOUD AL-ZAHAR (CENTRE, GREY BEARD BEIGE SHIRT) AT MEETING WITH PALESTINIAN CABINET; SLV MEETING IN PROGRESS (6 SHOTS) 2.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA/ RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVABHPZD4CP1UL4HZI6P001P3TFN
  • Story Text: An Israeli missile strike on the home of a Hamas
    official has killed two people, but missed its target,
    Mahmoud al-Zahar
    An Israeli missile strike wounded a political
    leader of the militant Islamic movement Hamas, killed his
    adult son and a bodyguard in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday
    (September 10, 2003), medics said.

    The Hamas official, Mahmoud al-Zahar, had been standing
    in the doorway of his two-storey house in Gaza City when it
    was attacked. He was thrown out by the blast and slightly
    wounded in the back of his head and his back, Hamas members
    said.

    Zahar's wife was among about 20 people wounded, the
    medics said. They said she was seriously hurt.

    Hundreds of Hamas supporters rushed to the scene and
    clawed through the rubble as smoke billowed over the scene.

    The attack followed two Hamas suicide bombings in
    Israel which killed 15 people on Tuesday.

    It was the latest in a series of missile strikes
    intended to kill Hamas leaders following a wave of suicide
    bombings by Islamic militants.

    The tit-for-tat violence has left a U.S.-backed Middle
    East peace plan in tatters. The plan aims to end almost
    three years of violence since the Palestinians rose up
    against Israeli occupation and to establish a Palestinian
    state by 2005.

    Israel says it is carrying out the missile strikes
    because the Palestinian Authority has failed to crack down
    on the militants. Each side blames the other for the slide
    back into violence after the collapse of a truce last
    month.

    Rescue workers were looking for more bodies in the
    wreckage of the house. Witnesses said there were two bodies
    at the morgue, and confirmed they were those of a bodyguard
    aged about 30 and Zahar's eldest son, Khaled, who is in his
    20s.


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