Hamas man and wife killed

2004-03-21 17:02

Khan Yunis, Gaza - A Hamas commander and his wife were among a group of at least five Palestinians killed early on Sunday during an Israeli army raid in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses and medical sources said.

Bassem Qdeih, in his late 30s, died along with his wife Sanaa when they tried to evade arrest by Israeli forces during the pre-dawn incursion in Abasan, an eastern suburb of the town of Khan Yunis.

Three other people, including a 21-year-old cousin of Qdeih, a local leader of the Islamic radical movement's armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were killed in subsequent exchanges of gunfire.

An Israeli military source said that Qdeih appeared to have been killed after he either blew himself up or an Israeli gunshot triggered an explosive device that he was carrying.

His wife died from the impact of the blast, he added.

Riddled with bullets

But a Palestinian doctor who examined the bodies said it appeared they had been killed by the impact of a mortar blast or a rocket. Their bodies were riddled with bullets, he added.

"It's clear that they died as a result of an explosion but not one that was self-inflicted," Dr Mohammed Abu Dalal said.

Palestinian security officials said that six people had been killed, but hospital sources said they had only received five bodies.

Nine other people had been injured, although only three remained in hospital for treatment and their condition was not thought to be life-threatening.

A statement from the Palestinian national security directorate said that Qdeih's father and several of his brothers were also arrested.

Three houses in the town had also been destroyed, and the water and electricity supplies and phone lines had all been severed during the raid.

A statement by the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said that it would "avenge this martyrdom soon".

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's chief advisor, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said the latest killings were "part of a dangerous escalation", as he made a call for international peace monitors to be sent to the Palestinian territories.

An Israeli military source said that the operation had been carried out to arrest Qdeih and target a workshop used to manufacture rockets and mortar shells.

Relatives said that he had long been on the Israeli military's list of wanted militants and had only just returned to the family home after a lengthy period on the run.

He had been involved in the manufacture of munitions, they added.

Daughter woke up

The couple's 13-year-old daughter Islam said she had been awoken by the sound of explosions and troops announcing by loudspeaker that they had imposed a curfew.

"I woke up and I could not find my mother or father," she said.

"I was later told that they went downstairs to fight. I first went to my grandfather's house with my other brothers and sisters, but then soldiers ordered us to get out one by one."

Witnesses and Palestinian security sources said that an Apache helicopter, tanks, jeeps and bulldozers had all taken part in the raid.

- AFP