GAZA: ISRAELI ARMY FIRES MISSILES AT A GROUP OF PALESTESTIAN MILITANTS WHO HAD LAUNCHED MORTARS OF JEWISH GUSH KATIF SETTLEMENT

Record ID: 400348

  • Title: GAZA: ISRAELI ARMY FIRES MISSILES AT A GROUP OF PALESTESTIAN MILITANTS WHO HAD LAUNCHED MORTARS OF JEWISH GUSH KATIF SETTLEMENT
  • Date: 18th May 2005
  • Summary: (W3) KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (MAY 18, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF SITE WHERE ISRAELI MISSILE FIRE FROM DRONE CRITICALLY WOUNDED PALESTINIAN GUNMAN 0.05 2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND SITE 0.09 3. CU: BLOOD STAIN ON GROUND 0.14 4. SECURITY MAN CHECKING SHRAPNEL FROM MISSILE 0.18 5. VARIOUS OF SHRAPNEL FROM MISSILE (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KHAN YOUNIS, NEVE DEKALIM, GUSH KATIF, RAFAH, GAZA CITY, GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA86SZNGZSTNVSGA9M24OLQAX2
  • Story Text: Israeli missile critically injures Palestinian,
    mortar shells fall on Jewish settlement after Hamas
    gunman killed along the Gaza-Egypt border.


    The Israeli army on Wednesday (May 18, 2005) fired a
    missile at a group of Palestinian militants who had
    launched mortars at a Jewish settlement in the southern
    Gaza Strip, the army and Palestinian officials said.

    One of the gunmen was critically wounded by the missile
    which Palestinian officials said was launched from an
    unmanned drone hovering about the Gush Katif Jewish
    settlement bloc.

    An army spokesman said that a cell of two Palestinians
    were preparing to launch further rocket attacks on Gush
    Katif. He said the men were 'aerially targeted' in order to
    stop them from firing.

    The Israeli air attack against Gaza militants was the
    first since Hamas and other armed factions agreed to a
    ceasefire after a Feb. 8 summit between Sharon and
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declaring an end to
    four years of hostilities.

    Israel plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip
    settlements in August as a way to "disengage" from conflict
    with the Palestinians. Militant groups see the pullback
    from land captured in the 1967 Middle East war as a victory.

    Palestinians welcome any withdrawal but many fear
    Sharon is trying to trade the coastal strip for a tighter
    grip on the West Bank, where the vast majority of Israel's
    240,000 settlers live.

    The missile attack came hours after a Palestinian gunmen
    was killed along the Gaza-Egypt border, drawing mortar
    attacks on Jewish settlements. Witnesses say some 15 mortar
    shells fell into the Gush Katif settlement bloc, causing
    only minor damage to pavements and no casualties.

    The circumstances of the gunman's death near the border
    overnight were disputed.

    Hamas said he was killed during a patrol when a grenade
    or small explosive device was launched by soldiers.

    The gunman was on a "jihadic mission", Hamas said,
    making reference to anti-Israeli activity, when he was
    killed.

    The Israeli army said its forces could not have been
    behind his death because they did not fire explosive
    devices during a brief exchange with gunmen. The army said
    troops had come under attack from automatic gunfire and
    anti-tank rockets.

    Several thousand mourners waving Hamas flags marched in
    a funeral procession for the Palestinian gunman.

    The pre-dawn incident put further strain on a de facto
    ceasefire agreed by Hamas and other militant groups after
    the Palestinian Authority and Israel declared a truce in
    February.

    Hamas issued a statement warning Israeli Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon that "the security you are enjoying these days
    will not last long if aggression continues against our
    people".

    Hamas leader Mushir el-Masri said: "Our commitment to
    the calm does not mean that we will stand with our hands
    tied with regard to the Zionist enemy's crimes, the last of
    which was the targetting of a Palestinian man that is a
    member of Hamas and last night the death of one of the
    members of Al-Qasam (Hamas military wing).

    Hours later, a mortar shell landed in the Gush Katif
    settlement bloc in Gaza, causing minor damage to a street
    but no injuries.

    Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have frequently
    fired mortar shells and crude rockets into adjacent Jewish
    settlements and southern Israeli towns and cities during
    four years of violence.

    Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, is the main group
    behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis
    during a 4-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising, but has
    pledged to refrain from attacks for now.


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