Israel Enters Palestinian Areas After Deadly Resistance Attacks

14/04/2001| IslamWeb

GAZA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Israeli tanks thrust into Palestinian-ruled Gaza early on Sunday, killing a policeman, after a morning attack that killed three Israeli soldiers and the night-time slaying of two Israeli settlers.Hospital officials said that Palestinian security official Allah Abu Bakra was killed during one of the clashes that broke out following Israeli incursions from the east, west and south of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.(Read photo caption below)
Palestinian security officials said Israeli tanks and bulldozers destroyed three buildings, including the headquarters, used by Palestinian national security in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Witnesses reported heavy gunbattles following Israeli incursions from the east, west and south of Rafah. Hospital officials said two Palestinians were wounded by tank fire.
Palestinian security said Israeli occupation forces were in control of at least six Palestinian positions east and south of Rafah, three near the Egyptian border crossing. They said tanks also plunged 200 yards near Karni commercial crossing.
The incursions came after two Palestinian Resistance men infiltrated an Israeli occupation army base in Gaza, killing three occupation soldiers and wounding seven in a hail of grenade and gunfire before being shot dead.
The military wing of the Damascus-based Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) claimed responsibility for the pre-dawn ``heroic attack,'' which was a response to Israel's ``ugly war of aggression...against our people.''
In a separate attack late on Saturday, Palestinian Resistance men shot dead a settler couple traveling along a West Bank road near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The military wing of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, the al-Aqsa brigades, claimed responsibility.
Nearly 700 people, including more than 530 Palestinians and more than 150 Israelis, have been killed since a Palestinian uprising for independence from Israel erupted in September.
PHOTO OCCUPATION:
A Palestinian policeman carries the dead body of his colleague Allah Abu Bakra after he was killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Rafah early, August 26, 2001. Israel troops killed the Palestinian policeman as they thrust into Palestinian-ruled areas of Gaza, from the east, west and south of Rafah, early on Sunday in retaliation for attacks by Resistance men in which three Israeli soldiers and two Israeli motorists died. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem