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Hamas snuffies were killed by IDF-sabotaged drone
The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for a major operation in the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas bomb attack that killed four members of a tank crew on Saturday. The defense establishment decided yesterday that its response to the attack should focus on Hamas' military wing in Gaza. The planned operation, which is slated to last for a relatively long time, is expected to include assassinations of wanted terrorists along with a deep penetration into the Strip by Israeli ground forces. Defense sources stressed, however, that Israel did not plan to reoccupy Gaza, as it had the West Bank.
Also yesterday, six Hamas operatives were killed by an explosion in Gaza City that was apparently an Israeli assassination. Three passersby were injured in the blast.
| Two of the wounded kicked it, huh? |
Hamas issued a statement describing the explosion as "the most serious assassination operation against the Iz a Din al Kassam military wing since the liquidation of Salah Shehadeh, the head of the military wing," last July. According to Hamas, the six were killed when a pilotless drone they had planned to use to carry out attacks against the IDF blew up. Palestinian sources said the six had purchased the drone not long ago and that it had apparently come with a bomb hidden inside.
Happy Birthday to You!
Yesterday, the six were standing in a courtyard as the drone carried out a test flight overhead when the bomb exploded. Hamas' military wing is now trying to figure out how and from whom the six purchased the drone.
www.IDFtoys.com
Army sources said that Hamas first showed an interest in pilotless drones, both as a means of collecting intelligence and as a means of carrying out attacks, about a year ago.
| High-tech can be a dangerous thing, can't it? |
Palestinian sources identified the six who were killed as Iyad Shaladan, who is considered close to Hamas' leaders; Akhram Nasser, one of the heads of Hamas' military wing and one of its leading arms procurers; Ayman Mohana; Mohammed Silmi; Mufeed Albul and Nidal Farhat. The most prominent of the six is Farhat, a close associate of Israel's most wanted terrorist, Mohammed Deif. Farhat has been involved in manufacturing Kassam rockets and maintains close ties with terrorist groups in other Arab countries; his younger brother, Mohammed, infiltrated the settlement of Atzmona a year ago and killed five students at a pre-army yeshiva there.
| And now he's gone, cut off in the prime of his life. Oh, what will the Paleos ever do without him? (Any body have a tissue? I'm weeping, you know. Well, there are tears streaming down my face...) |
Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, demanded that Palestinian Authority officials respond to the attack by halting their meetings with Israel and their efforts to arrange a cease-fire. He also threatened that Israel's "army of occupation and its war minister, Shaul Mofaz... will pay a heavy price" for the assassination.
| That's the usual response, isn't it? Somehow it's never "We've gotta knock this off, 'cuz too many of our cannon fodder are getting killed." |
Two other Palestinians were killed in Nablus yesterday during a gun fight with IDF paratroopers. An IDF officer was lightly wounded in the leg in the incident and was sent to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer for treatment. The paratroopers had entered the Nablus casbah to arrest Taysir Khaled, who heads the Nablus branch of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. As they surrounded the building in which Khaled was staying, armed Palestinians opened fire at them. Two Palestinians were killed by the troops' return fire and a few residents of the area were wounded. IDF sources said that both of the slain Palestinians had been armed; but Palestinian sources said that one had been a mere bystander. After the shooting had stopped, the soldiers arrested Khaled and three other Palestinians who were with him.
| Khaled's too important to the movement to let himself get iced, y'see... |
The IDF also arrested five other Palestinians yesterday - a Tanzim operative who was involved in the arms trade in Tul Karm, a Hamas operative in the village of Bituniya near Ramallah and three Tanzim activists in Hebron. IDF troops also foiled a suicide attack south of Nablus when soldiers at a roadblock near Hawara stopped a Palestinian car for a routine check. The soldiers searched the car and found an explosive belt containing 15 kilograms of explosive material. The driver, who was also carrying a large sum of money, was detained for questioning. The IDF currently believes that his assignment was to deliver the belt to the Hamas bomber slated to carry out the attack.
| "Bomb? What bomb? Oh, that! That's not a suicide belt. It's for blowing stumps. Y'see, ya strap it around the stump..." |
Israel also decided yesterday that the full closure it has imposed on the territories will continue until further notice. The IDF attributed this decision to a spate of warnings about planned attacks within the Green Line. The closure bars some 20,000 Palestinian workers and merchants from their jobs in Israel.
| Tough, ain't it? See? Cause... Effect. Works every time. |
Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-16 |
