Israeli Troops Kill 14 Palestinians

GAZA CITY, October 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least fourteen Palestinians were killed and 70 others injured in a major Israeli incursion into Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, overnight, a few days after Israel concluded a17 -day onslaught on the northern parts of the Strip.

One of the victims was named as eight-year-old Hisham Ashur who was hit by a bullet in the neck, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Another was identified as Wissam Al-Qidra,18 .

All victims died in either air strikes or from gunfire and tank shelling in the town of Khan Yunis .

Palestinian medics said some 70 people had been injured since fighting broke out late Sunday, while Israeli military sources reported that two soldiers were badly injured during the incursion.

Palestinian sources said about 30 Israeli armored vehicles and seven bulldozers rolled into an800 -meter (yard) section of Khan Yunis, occupying an entire neighborhood.

Israeli bulldozers razed at least three buildings, leaving nearly 60 people homeless, Palestinian security sources said.

Israeli military sources confirmed destroying at least one building which they said was the home of Mohammed Sinwar, a local leader of Hamas resistance group.

A spokesman for the Israeli army claimed the attacks targeted “armed Palestinians who had approached (Israeli) forces.”

The new fatalities bring to4 , 528the number of people killed since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada against the Israeli occupation in September 2000 , including3 , 498Palestinians and 956 Israelis.

The new Israeli offensive comes a few days after the occupation forces redeployed its troops in the northern Gaza Strip ending a17 -day onslaught.

At least 137 Palestinians, including many children, were killed in the Israeli operation in Jabaliya, a refugee camp of100 ,000, in the deadliest military onslaught on Gaza since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Around 100 houses were leveled in Jabaliya and neighboring Beit Lahia, scenes of the heaviest destruction.

The bloody Israeli incursion, which plunged the northern Gaza Strip in scenes of anguish, came under a double attack Monday, October18 , from the Human Rights Watch and UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

A 10 -year-old Palestinian schoolgirl died of her wounds after Israeli snipers shot her in the chest while she was sitting inside a UN-run school in a Gaza refugee camp.