OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Electronic Intifada: Israeli forces kill 14 Palestinians and leave 80 wounded in refugee camps in Gaza

An Israeli military attack in a Palestinian residential area in the central Gaza Strip conducted today, Sunday 7 March 2004, left dead 14 Palestinians, including four children, and more than 80 others, including 26 children, wounded.

According to preliminary investigations conducted by PCHR, at around 03:00 this morning, Israeli forces, including heavy military vehicles and aircraft, moved from the Netzarim settlement, southwards along Salah al Din Street to a point between Al-Nusseirat and Al-Bureij refugee camps. Troops then moved from Salah Al Din Street west into Al-Nusseirat camp.

Four children were killed by Israeli gunfire and more than 80 civilians were injured, 26 of them children. Ten of the injured remain in a serious condition.

The children killed were identified as Mahmoud Abdullah Younis, 11; Mohammed Amer Abu Zuraiq, 12; Mohammed Ali Bedawi, 15; and Haitham Mohammed Al Issawi, 16.

Israelischer Verteidigungsminister:

"This operation [vom 7. Maerz] left 15 Palestinians dead,
including nine armed men from Hamas and two others from
Fatah/Tanzim, as well as four teenagers who were not so innocent
since they had responded to the call from the mosques to support
the terrorists, [...]"