VARIOUS: REACTIONS TO KILLING OF FIVE PEOPLE AT ISRAELI KIBBUTZ/ PALESTINIANS LOOK AT WRECKAGE OF SMALL FACTORY DAMAGED IN ISRAEL OVERNIGHT AIR RAID

Record ID: 640719

  • Title: VARIOUS: REACTIONS TO KILLING OF FIVE PEOPLE AT ISRAELI KIBBUTZ/ PALESTINIANS LOOK AT WRECKAGE OF SMALL FACTORY DAMAGED IN ISRAEL OVERNIGHT AIR RAID
  • Date: 11th November 2002
  • Summary: (W4) KIBBUTZ METZER, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 11, 2002) (REUTERS) PAN OF , INTERIOR OF HOUSE IN CHILDREN'S BEDROOM WITH BED PAN OF ROOM WITH SHELVES AND CHILDREN'S BELONGINGS CLOSE OF CLOWN HANGING FROM CEILING SWAYING CLOSE OF BUGS BUNNY NIGHT LIGHT, PAN TO CHILDREN'S TOYS CLOSE OF BULLET HOLES IN WALL (DAY SCENES) SLV WOMAN KIBBUTZ MEMBER WALKING THROUGH KIBBUTZ CARRYING CHILD AND PUSHING COT SLV ISRAELI BORDER POLICEMEN GUARDING HOUSE (W3)JERUSALEM (NOVEMBER 11, 2002) (REUTERS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) AVI PAZNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAYING: "Tonight an entire Israeli family was wiped out. We have knowledge that other terrorist operations are now being prepared. We have 60 warnings. It is obvious that the Palestinian Authority has become a fully fledged factory for terrorism. We will do whatever it takes in order to defend ourselves. We will take every measure necessary -- both defensive and offensive -- in order to defend ourselves against this scourge."
  • Embargoed: 26th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KIBBUTZ METZER, ISRAEL / JERUSALEM / GAZA AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7AHB3LLDC7NOUXP1C7K4ZKAPW
  • Story Text: A suspected Palestinian gunman has killed at least five people at a kibbutz in northern Israel hours after a double suicide bombing was foiled in the same area near the West Bank border, police sources have said.
    The gunman killed at least five people on Sunday (November 10) at a kibbutz in northern Israel soon after a double suicide bombing was foiled nearby.
    Israeli security forces were still in pursuit of the gunman, who was feared to have hidden inside a house in Kibbutz Metzer, a collective farm, early on Monday.
    The attack, which began close to midnight on Sunday, came after Israeli troops pulled back from the West Bank city of Jenin after a two-week hunt for suicide bombers ahead of the arrival of a U.S. envoy to pursue a Middle East peace plan.
    Avi Ohayon lost his wife and two sons aged four and five years in the attack.
    The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack that killed thirty-four year-old Revital Ohayon, her sons Noam, four years-old and five year-od Matan, as well as three others in Kibbutz Metzer as they huddled together on a bed.
    Grief-stricken, Ohayon visited the scene of the shooting.
    Swaying, he managed to stay on his feet until he spotted several small objects on one of the beds. He collapsed on the mattress and threw his arms around a pillow.
    "God help me -- dummies," he screamed in a scene recorded by Israel's Channel Two television. "A child with a dummy.
    They killed a child with a dummy."
    Security officials said the gunman infiltrated the communal farm, just several hundred meters (yards) from the West Bank, late on Sunday.
    He opened fire at a couple strolling near the kibbutz dining room, killing forty-two year-old Tirza Damari.
    Yitzhak Dori, the community's administrator, was on security duty and arrived at the scene in his car. Coming under fire, he put the car in reverse and tried to pull away, but died in a hail of bullets.
    Israel condemned the attack saying it would take every measure necessary -- both defensive and offensive -- in order to defend itself.
    "It is obvious that the Palestinian Authority has become a fully fledged factory for terrorism," Israeli government spokesman, Avi Pazner said.
    Earlier on Monday an Israeli military helicopter destroyed a metal foundry believed to be making mortar bombs in Gaza City. No injuries were reported.
    Speaking in Ramallah Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called the Gaza attack a continuation of the crime of military escalation against the Palestinian people.
    Earlier on Sunday, police had erected a checkpoint near Metzer, after receiving information of a potential attack being launched from the Palestinian city of Nablus.
    Two Palestinians inside a car apparently blew themselves up after border police spotted what they said was a "suspicious looking" vehicle and asked the driver to pull over, police said. There were no other injuries.
    Palestinian suicide attacks have killed scores of Israelis in a two-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood.
    Militants say the attacks are to avenge Israeli military raids in which Palestinian civilians and combatants are killed.
    The Palestinian authority was quick to condemn the kibbutz attack saying they considered it a crime and an attempt to undermine all attempts at the renewal of co-operation with Israel.
    "We assure that we will do our efforts to the maximum in order to put an end to such crimes and to stop the cycle of violence" Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said in Ramallah.
    At least 1,653 Palestinians and 626 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising against occupation erupted in September 2000 after peace talks froze.

    (nc/np)
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