Hamas leaders son killed in Gaza violence
Israeli tanks, bulldozers and helicopters raided the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killing the militant son of the territory's most powerful Hamas leader and 14 other Palestinians in one of the bloodiest days of fighting since the Islamic group took over ...
By Agencies |
GAZA CITY: Israeli tanks, bulldozers and helicopters raided the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killing the militant son of the territory's most powerful Hamas leader and 14 other Palestinians in one of the bloodiest days of fighting since the Islamic group took over the area in June.
Palestinian sniper fire across the border killed a 20-year-old volunteer from Ecuador at an Israeli communal farm.
The killing of Hussam Zahar, 24, the son of hardline Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, and the civilian death in Israel threatened to fuel the violence even further at a time when Israel and moderate Palestinians in the West Bank are trying to move peacemaking into high gear.
Zahar accused the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement, of complicity in his son's death.
"This is the hope of Abu Mazen and his colleagues, the collaborators with Israel and the spies of America," Zahar said, referring to Abbas by his nickname.
Hamas, he vowed, will respond to today's raid "in the appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means."
Another Zahar son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the elder Zahar in his home three years ago.
The killing of Hussam Zahar threatened to heat up Hamas' involvement in the daily barrage of rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel. While allowing other militant factions to attack southern Israeli communities with impunity, the Islamic militant group hasn't taken the lead on the assaults.
The operation today began when undercover Israeli troops moved several hundred metres into the territory to strike an abandoned house east of Gaza City that militants used for rocket-launching operations, Hamas said.
Palestinian sniper fire across the border killed a 20-year-old volunteer from Ecuador at an Israeli communal farm.
The killing of Hussam Zahar, 24, the son of hardline Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, and the civilian death in Israel threatened to fuel the violence even further at a time when Israel and moderate Palestinians in the West Bank are trying to move peacemaking into high gear.
Zahar accused the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement, of complicity in his son's death.
"This is the hope of Abu Mazen and his colleagues, the collaborators with Israel and the spies of America," Zahar said, referring to Abbas by his nickname.
Hamas, he vowed, will respond to today's raid "in the appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means."
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Another Zahar son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the elder Zahar in his home three years ago.
The killing of Hussam Zahar threatened to heat up Hamas' involvement in the daily barrage of rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel. While allowing other militant factions to attack southern Israeli communities with impunity, the Islamic militant group hasn't taken the lead on the assaults.
The operation today began when undercover Israeli troops moved several hundred metres into the territory to strike an abandoned house east of Gaza City that militants used for rocket-launching operations, Hamas said.
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