About 40 Palestinians were injured Sunday evening in new wave of Israeli air strikes on Gaza Strip. This Israeli assault came following a Palestinian shooting attack on a group of soldiers in Beer Sheva that killed two women soldiers.
F-16 fighters bombed Palestinian security buildings in the Palestinian leader's Gaza City compound, injuring 22 people, including two UN employees. Additionally, Israeli helicopters hit two metal workshops in the northern Gaza Strip, injuring 15 civilians, Palestinian security officials said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened a mini security cabinet meeting after returning from Washington. Talking to reporters, Sharon stated Yasser Arafat was "directly responsible" for the recent surge in violence. The Palestinian Authority rejected this accusation, condemning the air raids and charging Sharon was attempting to sabotage international peace efforts.
The Israeli strikes on Gaza City completely destroyed the navy police headquarters and severely damaged the base of Arafat's elite Force 17 guards, reported AFP. Security and medical officials said 22 people were wounded by flying debris, although none were seriously hurt.
UN special coordinator for the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, whose offices were also damaged, "expressed outrage that Israel deployed bombs of heavy tonnage in such close proximity to civilian areas and United Nations facilities."
Israeli helicopters then fired rockets on a metal workshop in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, and injured 11 people, including a 14-year-old who was seriously hurt.
Short time later helicopters also attacked another workshop, which is sometimes suspected of being used by Palestinians to produce weapons such as mortar bombs, in Beit Lahia. Four people were wounded in that attack.
In addition, Israeli tanks accompanied by army bulldozers entered two kilometers into Palestinian-controlled land in the northern Gaza Strip earlier in the day, firing on abandoned Palestinian security posts before withdrawing, Palestinian security officials said.
Israeli forces later cut the main north-south Gaza road in two places and prevented traffic moving through the strip.
In the West Bank, the Israeli army launched an incursion in the autonomous Palestinian area of Nablus overnight, triggering a gun battle in which two Palestinians were injured, a Palestinian security source said.
Some 20 armored cars penetrated a kilometer into east of Nablus where they met resistance from armed Palestinians near Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish holy site destroyed by Palestinians at the start of the ongoing uprising. The Israeli forces withdrew from the area at 6:00 a.m. (0400 GMT), the Palestinian source said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli police disclosed Sunday that the year 2001 was one of the worst years for the Israelis at the security level with 208 deaths and 1,500 wounded in Palestinian resistance operations.
The Israeli police commissioner in Jerusalem said in a press conference Sunday that 1,800 Palestinian operations took place last year, killing 208 Israelis and wounding 1,500 others. The police announced that it is on full alert fearing more Palestinian suicide operations. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
