lennart
12-01-03, 20:28
Two Palestinians killed in Israeli helicopter air strike in Gaza
Two Palestinian teenagers were killed Sunday in an IAF helicopter gunship strike in the Gaza Strip targeting two wanted Hamas militants.
An Apache helicopter gunship fired at least three rockets at a car carrying the two wanted men, Mohammed Abu Shali and Raed Al-Bashsar, as it passed a hospital in southeast Khan Yunis. Sources in the Gaza Strip reported that the bystanders, Mohammed al-Kawara and Abed A-Najar, were killed in the strike, while the wanted men escaped unharmed.
Hospital officials said another teenager was seriously wounded in the strike.
There were conflicting reports about the ages of the two. Hospital officials said the two were aged 15 and 16 years, but an uncle said Najar was 18 and the United Nations agency that aids Palestinian refugees maintained that he was 19.
Mahmoud Abu Tahar, a gas station owner, said the missiles were fired toward a taxi and a car, when three youngsters were nearby, two on bikes and one walking. "I saw two people dead and another lying nearby in a pool of blood," Abu Tahar said.
But a senior Israeli security source told Reuters earlier: "I can confirm we hit three wanted men."
This is the first targeted killing to take place in several weeks. Hamaas sources defined the strike as "a severe Israeli escalation that will not go unanswered."
Two Palestinian teenagers were killed Sunday in an IAF helicopter gunship strike in the Gaza Strip targeting two wanted Hamas militants.
An Apache helicopter gunship fired at least three rockets at a car carrying the two wanted men, Mohammed Abu Shali and Raed Al-Bashsar, as it passed a hospital in southeast Khan Yunis. Sources in the Gaza Strip reported that the bystanders, Mohammed al-Kawara and Abed A-Najar, were killed in the strike, while the wanted men escaped unharmed.
Hospital officials said another teenager was seriously wounded in the strike.
There were conflicting reports about the ages of the two. Hospital officials said the two were aged 15 and 16 years, but an uncle said Najar was 18 and the United Nations agency that aids Palestinian refugees maintained that he was 19.
Mahmoud Abu Tahar, a gas station owner, said the missiles were fired toward a taxi and a car, when three youngsters were nearby, two on bikes and one walking. "I saw two people dead and another lying nearby in a pool of blood," Abu Tahar said.
But a senior Israeli security source told Reuters earlier: "I can confirm we hit three wanted men."
This is the first targeted killing to take place in several weeks. Hamaas sources defined the strike as "a severe Israeli escalation that will not go unanswered."