- Title: GAZA: RESIDENTS OF KHAN YOUNIS BEGIN CLEAN-UP AFTER ISRAELI MILITARY ATTACK.
- Date: 15th November 2001
- Summary: (U3) KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA STRIP (NOVEMBER 15, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/MV: PALESTINIAN RESIDENTS OF KAHN YOUNIS RUNNING THROUGH THE STREETS AFTER ISRAELI INCURSION (3 SHOTS) 0.20 2. MV/CU: DAMAGED CARS WITH BULLET HOLES (2 SHOTS) 0.27 3. GV: SCORCHED BUILDING 0.32 4. MV: WOMAN GOING THROUGH RUBBLE IN HER WRECKED HOME 0.33
- Embargoed: 30th November 2001 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA STRIP
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVAAWJ8W6E493MXXCFYM3WAT984A
- Story Text: Residents of a Palestinian-ruled town in the south of
the Gaza Strip have begun cleaning up after an Israeli tank
and troop incursion which left one Palestinian dead and at
least 13 wounded.
Israeli soldiers entered the town of Khan Younis in
Gaza early on Thursday (November 15) and levelled buildings
the army said were used by gunmen to fire anti-tank grenades,
mortar shells and guns at nearby military outposts and a
Jewish settlement.
A gun battle that erupted after troops and armoured
vehicles moved some 700 metres (yards) into the town claimed
the life of one person and wounded 13 before the troops and
armour withdrew.
Hundreds of people fled their homes as helicopters hovered
overhead and tanks fired shells. Four buildings caught fire
and mosque loudspeakers broadcast calls to arms.
Thirty homes were destroyed or damaged. The army said
Palestinians shot at troops and fired at least 10 mortar
rounds at the Jewish settlement of Gush Katif during the
fighting.
Two Palestinians were also hurt in an exchange of fire
between Palestinian gunmen and Palestinian security forces in
the West Bank city of Jenin, where at least 2,500 people
protested against the arrest of a militant by President Yasser
Arafat's security forces.
Israeli tanks also rumbled into the Palestinian-ruled
village of Shawawra near the West Bank city of Bethlehem,
where the army said it had arrested eight militants before
withdrawing. Two Palestinians, including an infant, were hurt.
The violence, shortly before a visit to the Middle East by
European Union leaders, dealt a new setback to hopes of a
quick end to more than 13 months of Israeli-Palestinian
violence in which almost 900 people have been killed.
The army has repeatedly raided Palestinian-ruled areas of
the West Bank and Gaza during the more than 13-month-old
Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
It remains in parts of two West Bank towns which it
entered last month after a Palestinian group killed a cabinet
minister in revenge for Israel's assassination of its leader.
The United States has both urged Israel to end the
incursions into Palestinian-ruled areas and has called on the
Palestinian Authority to arrest militants.
But Palestinians have fought clashes with their own
security forces several times when Palestinian police have
tried to arrest militants wanted by Israel for alleged attacks
on Israelis.
A high-level European Union delegation, including European
Commission President Romano Prodi and EU foreign policy chief
Javier Solana, is due in the Middle East on Friday (November
16) and visits Israeli and the Palestinian territories on
Saturday and Sunday.
On another diplomatic front, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon was due to meet President George W. Bush in the United
States in early December.
Bush has refused to meet Arafat since taking office in
January and they did not hold talks when both attended the
United Nations General Assembly last weekend.
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