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Attack launched near Haniyeh's house
An Israeli helicopter has attacked a police roadblock near the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, killing one person and wounding four others, Palestinian officials said. The attack took place about 150 yards from Haniyeh's home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Haniyeh, who has been in hiding for several weeks, fearing Israeli assassination, was not believed to be in the area.The attack appeared to be aimed at sending a message to Hamas since the heavily populated area is not used to launch rockets. Israel has threatened to begin targeting Hamas leaders because of the ongoing rocket fire from other parts of Gaza. The Israeli army had no immediate comment. Meanwhile, 16 Palestinians, including the son of a hardline Hamas leader, were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes. Planes attacked a series of targets in the Gaza Strip, stepping up the pressure on the Islamic militant group a day after a rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli man. The bloodshed threatened to worsen the continuing violence in the area, which involves near-daily Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli reprisals. Hamza al-Haya, the son of hardline Hamas politician Khalil al-Haya, was among those killed in the violence. Hamas said he had commanded a rocket-launching squad in northern Gaza. Posted by: Fred 2008-02-29 |
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