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Israel pushes on in Rafah
20/05/2004 11:53 - (SA)
Rafah - Six more Palestinians were killed as Israeli forces pushed on with an unprecedented raid in southern Gaza on Thursday despite criticism from Washington and censure from the United Nations.
Five of the latest victims were killed in two overnight air strikes in the Jenaina neighbourhood of Rafah town and the Brazil quarter of the neighbouring refugee camp.
A sixth was shot dead by troops on the porch outside his house in the neighbourhood of Tal al-Sultan which the army has been sweeping for two days, bringing the overall toll since the start of Operation Rainbow early on Tuesday to 40.
International condemnation of the operation, designed to smash tunnels used to smuggle weapons for Palestinian militants from under the border with Egypt, reached deafening levels after 10 Rafah residents were killed on Wednesday when Israeli troops used helicopters and tanks to disperse a protest against the raid.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution overnight criticising Israel for killing Palestinian civilians and demolishing their houses after the United States abstained instead of vetoing the measure.
The Palestinians hailed the vote by the council, where the United States has frequently blocked resolutions critical of Israel.
Unusually sharp
A close aide of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed "disappointment" at the US decision not to use its veto power which followed unusually sharp criticism from the White House.
"While we believe that Israel has the right to act to defend itself and its citizens, we do not see that its operations in Gaza in the last few days serve the purposes of peace and security," said White House spokesperson Scott McClellan.
However Israel showed no sign of wrapping up the raid, launching more helicopter missile strikes and continuing its search of homes.
One resident of the Jenaina neighbourhood described hearing the cries of pain of two men who had been badly burned in one missile strike and later died of their injuries.
"I saw the helicopter fire two shells and then I heard two guys screaming 'help us' but nobody could do anything for them because the tanks were also firing in the neighbourhood," Mahmud Jarwun said.
Dr Ali Mussa, head of the Rafah hospital, said that he was even running out of space to house bodies in the morgue, while two ambulances had been put out of action after being hit by Israeli fire.
"The situation is very difficult for all medical teams. We only have four ambulances after the army shelled two of our ambulances in the early morning in the Brazil area."
Israel has voiced its regret over the death of the protestors, apparently killed by a tank shell, but Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the operation would continue.
"I regret that this incident happened and I regret the Palestinian casualties, but in a war so complex and complicated, sometimes these things also happen," Mofaz said late on Wednesday.
- AFP
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