Hamas leader wounded

2003-06-10 11:46

Gaza City - Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, a senior leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas, was wounded on Tuesday in an Israeli helicopter raid on his jeep that killed a woman and young girl, Palestinian medical sources said.

Muawia Abu Hassanein, who heads the Shifa hospital, had earlier told AFP Rantissi was killed in the missile attack. He later retracted and said the Hamas leader was only wounded in the leg and was being operated on.

Palestinian sources said 27 people were wounded in the raid, including Rantissi, his son, Ahmad, and two bodyguards. One bodyguard was initially reported dead.

The dead were a 43-year-old woman and five-year-old girl, the medical sources said.

Israeli gunships fired a first missile on Rantissi's jeep shortly before 11:00, said witnesses, who added that all the occupants jumped out of the car before it was completely destroyed by two more missiles.

The attack took place on a busy thoroughfare incidentally named after the armed wing of Hamas - Ezzedine al-Qassam Street.

After the blasts, hundreds of Gazans flocked to the Shifa hospital, which lies just a few blocks away from the site of the missile attack, amid initial reports of Rantissi's death.

Supporters of militant groups massed around the gates of the hospital staged an impromptu demonstration protesting the call by Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas to end the armed intifada.

- AFX