Gaza: Technical glitch blamed
2006-11-09 16:57
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Thursday a technical failure by Israeli artillery was responsible for the deaths of 18 Palestinian civilians in a north Gaza town hit by shelling on Wednesday.
"It was a technical failure of the Israeli artillery.
I checked it and I verified it," Olmert said in broadcast remarks.
"This is not the policy."
Tens of thousands of
Palestinians gathered at a mass funeral for the victims on Thursday.
The bodies were
buried to the accompaniment of gunfire and vows of revenge.
'A sould for a soul'
The bodies - including seven children and four women - were
each wrapped in a yellow flag, the symbol of the Fatah movement
of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and born aloft on
stretchers among a vast crowd of tearful and angry mourners.
Cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) filled the air as
the bodies were placed in their graves.
The youngest was an
18-month-old girl laid in the ground by her weeping father.
After the burials, a Fatah official pledged vengeance on
Israel in a loudspeaker address to the crowds.
"We say, an eye for an eye and a soul for a soul. There will
be no security in Ashkelon, no security in Tel Aviv or Haifa,
until our people in Beit Hanoun are made secure."
- Reuters