A senior Hamas official has vowed the Islamic group would react to Israel's botched attempt to kill its spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. "The Palestinian people cannot remain silent to such aggressions," Osama Hamdan said, Hamas' representative in Lebanon. "Israel has crossed all red lines and they have opened the gates for a large escalation. This aggression will lead to a new turn of events that nobody can predict for the time being. This incident has also uncovered the bias of the world, which still did not denounce this aggression that also wounded 18 people, including 14 children."
| "And 11 puppies, 9 kittens, six baby ducks, and four bunnies..." |
Palestinian security and medical sources said wheelchair-bound, 67-year-old Ahmad Yassin was slightly injured in his right shoulder in an Israeli air raid earlier Saturday on a building in downtown Gaza. Another 17 people, most of them women and children, were also wounded in the raid, Palestinian medics said. Mr Hamdan confirmed that Ahmad Yassin was "lightly injured and he is now in stable condition".
| Damn. But then, Khaled was stable for almost a month, so I guess there's always hope..." |
"He is undergoing treatment," Mr Hamdan said, who did not wish to disclose whether the wounded sheikh had been taken to hospital. Meanwhile, Israel has confirmed it tried to assassinate Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
| What's the Hebrew phrase for "Hell, yeah!"? |
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir says the aim was to eliminate the militants. "We were after the leaders of Hamas who were convening in a summit of terror in Gaza in order to carry out more terror attacks against the citizens of Israel," Mr Meir said.
| This actually represents a new tack for the IDF. Instead of going after all Paleostinian bad guys, they're specifically going after Hamas, and maybe IJ — though I don't think they've banged any IJ leadership this go-around. Hamas blew the bus, and Hamas and IJ were the two groups who specifically rejected the road map. If the al-Aqsa Martyrs want to join in the festivities, that'll probably be allowed, but they're also free to sit around and congratulate themselves it isn't their leadership being banged. |
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath has described the attack as shocking and horrible, and a backward step for peace. "I think this contributes to further escalation, contributes to further destruction of the chances of the peace process known as the roadmap - it's really terrible," Mr Shaath said.
| Note that his denunciation is proforma... |
After the evening prayers at Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut's suburbs, dozens of Hamas followers staged a demonstration to protest Israel's attempt to kill Yassin. Men shouted anti-Israeli slogans, rolled their eyes and jumped up and down and veiled women carried portraits of the Hamas spiritual leader while children distributed candies to celebrate Yassin's escape from death. In northern Lebanon, two separate demonstrations took place in the Nahr al-Bared and Beddawi refugee camps where residents raised portraits of Yassin, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as well as Palestinian flags. |