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Palestinian
Reema Iwridat kisses her slain 14-month-old baby Gharam
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AL-KHALIL
(Hebron), September 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A
14-month-old Palestinian girl on Thursday, September 26, choked to death
on tear gas fired by Israeli troops who also killed two Palestinians in
Gaza and demolished three homes.
The
baby, Gharam al-Tel, died from tear gas inhalation as violent scuffles
erupted between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops trying to
impose a lockdown on the Palestinian part of Al-Khalil (Hebron),
reoccupied like most of the West Bank since June, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) said.
An
Israeli officer and a Palestinian fighter from the Islamic resistance
group Hamas were killed in a gun battle near the northern West Bank town
of Tulkarem on Thursday, officials from both sides said.
The
Israeli officer was identified by Israeli public radio as Captain Arel
Marmelstein, while Palestinian security officials said the Hamas gunman,
whose body was found in a cave in Kfar Labad, just east of Tulkarem, was
Nashat Abu Jbara, 24.
In
occupied Jerusalem, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians early
Thursday as the Islamic resistance group Hamas launched one of its
biggest rocket raids on southern Israel, hitting an industrial zone with
three home-made missiles.
The
violence came as Israel’s siege of Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat’s West Bank headquarters in Ramallah moved into its second week
with no end in sight, after Israel ignored U.S. and U.N. calls to pull
back.
An
Israeli military source claimed one of the Palestinians killed was a
gunman trying to infiltrate the Alei Sinai settlement in the northern
Gaza Strip. “A Kalashnikov assault rifle, grenades and magazines were
found by his body,” the sources said, adding that troops were hunting
another armed man in the same area.
In
the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian Mahmud Idris, 52, was
killed at dawn by Israeli troops who invaded the western sector of the
town, a Palestinian security source said, giving no further details.
In
the southern West Bank, Israeli troops blew up three houses, including
one belonging to the leader of the Islamic resistance group Hamas in the
town of Al-Khalil (Hebron), Abdel Khaled Natche, Palestinian witnesses
said.
Soldiers
gave family members 10 minutes to remove belongings before a huge
explosion leveled the two-story structure, scattering rubble in all
directions.
In
another demolition, troops blew up the house of the leader of the
Islamic Jihad resistance group in Al-Khalil (Hebron), Diab Shweiki, who
escaped an Israeli missile assassination attack on his vehicle several
months ago.
A
third house was demolished in the nearby town of Dura. The three-story
building was the family home of brothers Anis and Iyad Amoura, members
of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade.
Israel
has demolished more than three dozen homes of Palestinian resistance
fighters since mid-July, in an attempt to deter resistance shootings and
bombing attacks. Human rights groups say the practice amounts to
collective punishment and is ineffective.
Meanwhile,
continuing its policies of occupation, Jewish settlers on Wednesday,
September 25, celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the establishment of
the illegal settlement Rehalim, near the Palestinian city of Nablus.
At
the same time, Hamas renewed its resistance attacks with its home-made
Qassam rockets, a short-range copy of the Katyusha fired blind at a
target.
The
rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit an industrial zone in the Negev
Desert late Wednesday, Israeli public television said.
The
Qassam rockets, produced by Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam
Brigades, hit business premises in the industrial zone of the southern
Israeli town of Siderot.
Four
of the firm’s 40 employees were “affected” by choking fumes from
the ensuing fire which was quickly put out, the television said.
An
Israeli source said that another Israeli was slightly injured when a
mortar was fired at an industrial site in the same area.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has a private ranch nearby, AFP said.
In
the meantime, the stand-off at Arafat’s besieged Ramallah base, the
Muqataa, entered its second week with report of increasing sickness
among the 250 armed defenders who have vowed to fight to the last man
should Israeli troops try to enter the battle-scarred building.
French
rights activist Claude Leostic, who spent several weeks inside
Palestinian Yasser Arafat’s compound during a previous siege from
March to May, said people inside were crammed into very limited space,
with several suffering from respiratory and gastric ailments.
“We
calculated that people have less than a square meter each; their living
space is extremely restricted,” said Leostic, who says she is in
constant touch with Palestinians inside the besieged compound.
“There
is very little water and food. They never know when the army will allow
for the next delivery to take place. They have to limit their daily
intake accordingly,” she added.
“People
are getting sick. Some suffer from ailments such as respiratory and
gastric problems other have chronic diseases. The doctor inside is very
busy,” she said.
Israel
has continued to ignore a U.N. resolution calling it on to end the siege
immediately, as well as playing down a sharp rebuke from U.S. President
George W. Bush.
