- KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip (AFP)
- At least 14 Palestinians were killed after dozens of Israeli tanks backed
by helicopters invaded the Gaza Strip, hampering efforts by EU foreign
policy chief Javier Solana to ease the two-year conflict in meetings with
leaders from both sides.
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- In the raid on the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis,
eight Palestinians were killed by a single missile fired from a helicopter
gunship, medics said Monday.
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- A total of 136 were wounded, and with around 12 in critical
condition the toll was likely to rise.
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- Two of the dead were killed in clashes that continued
after the army pulled back into a Jewish settlement built just a few hundred
metres (yards) from the Palestinian town, a frequent flashpoint for gunbattles.
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- Bloody Israeli forays have increased in the Gaza Strip,
stronghold of the Islamist Hamas movement, since Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon secured almost total control of the West Bank, invaded in
June after a spate of suicide bombings.
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- Israeli tanks stormed into Khan Yunis with their cannons
and machine-guns blazing at around 1:00 am Monday (2300 GMT Sunday), while
accompanying helicopter gunships fired missiles and machine-guns.
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- Israeli public radio said that bulldozers took part in
the operation which included 40 tanks.
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- Around four hours later, the Israeli forces returned
to their base in nearby Gane Tal settlement.
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- It was not immediately clear how many of the dead and
injured were gunmen or civilians. Hospital officials said eight people
were wounded when a tank shell and machine-gun fire hit a hospital after
the raid.
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- The deaths brought to 2,562 the number of people killed
as a direct result of the intifada which broke out at the end of September
2000, including 1,897 Palestinians and 615 Israelis.
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- The assault on Khan Yunis came after a home-made Palestinian
rocket was fired at a Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip without
causing any injury or damage, the Israeli army said.
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- The army said its operation was launched to destroy "terrorist
infrastructure" in an area known to be a stronghold of Hamas, which
makes the Qassam rockets.
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- "In searches, the army discovered a sack containing
mortars and bombs which it blew up. A Palestinian wanted for terrorist
activities was arrested as he was hiding a home-made bomb under his coat."
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- The statement said troops had come under gunfire, but
suffered no casualties.
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- Gaza sector army commander General Israel Ziv told Israeli
public radio, "This was an important operation proving that there
is no sanctuary for terrorists."
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- He said the army had taken into account the possibility
of civilian victims, "but most of the dead were armed men who attacked
our soldiers with automatic weapons and grenades before being killed."
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- Sharon said recently he would hit Islamist groups based
in the Gaza Strip, a densely populated region sealed off from the world
and where Hamas and its smaller rival Islamic Jihad have their strongholds.
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- Around 15,000 people turned out in Khan Yunis for the
funerals of the first 12 people killed, even as more were dying in the
hospital of their wounds.
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- Inter-Palestinian tensions also exploded in Gaza, when
Hamas was accused of abducting and killing the head of the riot police,
in retaliation for the deaths of two young demonstrators in anti-US rallies
a year ago which degenerated into riots.
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- Two Hamas members were later killed by police after attacking
a patrol as officers were arresting a Hamas gunman who opened fire on them.
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- Seventeen people were injured in the clash, while other
shoot-outs erupted near the city hospital, without any injuries.
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