ISRAEL/WEST BANK: Israeli Defence Minister expresses regret over civilian deaths in Gaza as protests continue

Record ID: 343494

  • Title: ISRAEL/WEST BANK: Israeli Defence Minister expresses regret over civilian deaths in Gaza as protests continue
  • Date: 9th November 2006
  • Summary: (W4) HEBRON, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 8, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SEVERAL THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS MARCHING IN STREETS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MARCHING, WAVING HAMAS FLAGS, CHANTING SLOGANS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE DEMONSTRATING PALESTINIANS HOLDING A MOCK COFFIN READING 'ARAB REGIMES' MORE OF DEMONSTRATION PROTESTERS BURNING ISRAELI FLAGS AND MOCK COFFIN
  • Embargoed: 24th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5Y5XT7E43UR7AGYKJTLCTP0BM
  • Story Text: Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz expressed regret on Wednesday (November 8) over the killing of 19 civilians in a northern Gaza town as angry Palestinians continued to pour into streets.
    The strike drew condemnation across Europe and the Middle East, with the European Union expressing profound shock, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Islamic body, accused Israel of war crimes.
    "I would like to begin by expressing great sorrow about the results of the incident," said Peretz during a conference in the frequently rocket hit southern Israeli town of Sderot. "A few shells diverted from their range because of circumstances there are still being investigated as a result of the shelling 19 Palestinians were killed and more than 20 were wounded, including children and women. With the results of the incident, I instructed the army to halt artillery fire until the investigation is completed. We offered humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority to help the civilian population and medical aid to assist the victims".
    Israel transferred several victims of the bloody attack for further treatment in Israel and transferred humanitarian aid into the impoverished strip.
    But anger among Palestinians continued to rage across the region.
    Palestinians poured into streets across the region. In the West Bank city of Hebron some 4,000 people took to the streets, waving Hamas flags. Several protesters burnt Israeli flags.
    Israel went on high alert after militants threatened to avenge the carnage.
    Peretz ordered an investigation and a halt to shelling in Gaza until its completion, the prime minister's office said.
    Meanwhile a handful of Israelis of the forum of 'Victims of Terror' staged a protest outside the prime minister office, calling on Olmert to cease fire and withdrew forces.
    " I am suffering, suffering for the loss of lives, either Israeli or Palestinians . They are human being and they have the right to live. There are no any reason to kill innocent children in their beds while they are sleeping. There is no excuse not the excuse of we didn't mean too like they say we are sorry. Its not a game its lives." one protester told reuters.
    Some of the dead were killed in bed as shells struck seven houses, and others rushed outside, finding no safety. It was the deadliest single Israeli attack on Palestinians in four years.
    Thirteen members of one extended family were killed and the dead included seven children and four women, residents and the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said he and Peretz "voiced sorrow over the deaths of Palestinian civilians ... and offered emergency humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Authority and medical care for the wounded".
    An Israeli military statement said the army "fired preventative artillery at launch sites from which Qassam rockets were launched (on Monday) into Ashkelon", in southern Israel.
    Israeli media said an artillery battery had missed its target, about a kilometre (half a mile) from Beit Hanoun. An army spokeswoman could not confirm this.
    The carnage in Beit Hanoun could bring world pressure on Israel to curb its Gaza offensive, begun in June after militants seized a soldier.
    Israeli ground forces pulled out of Beit Hanoun on Tuesday after a week-long operation aimed at curbing rocket attacks that killed at least 52 Palestinians, more than half of them militants, hospital officials and residents said.
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