[News] Israel kills women at mosque siege

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/28281EF3-0276-4DED-B367-B74C0DAFDE89.htm

Israel kills women at mosque siege

Friday 03 November 2006 1:11 AM GMT


Two Palestinian women have been killed during a stand-off near a Gaza 
mosque while they were trying to rescue about 60 Palestinian men 
besieged inside.

The dramatic events came on the third day of an Israeli assault on 
the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, the largest operation Israel has 
conducted in the Gaza Strip in months.

On Friday, about 200 Palestinian women marched towards the al-Nasir 
mosque in the town of Beit Hanoun, which Israeli forces surrounded on 
Thursday, in a attempt to rescue the men.

Israeli forces opened fire towards the women and two of them were 
killed. Six others were wounded.

Um Muhammad, a woman in her 40s, said after the rescue attempt: "We 
risked our lives to free our sons."

With Friday's shootings, at least 22 Palestinians have been killed 
since Israeli troops entered Beit Hanoun on Wednesday.

Escape

The Israeli army later confirmed that the Palestinian men had escaped 
from the mosque.

Shortly after they fled, the roof of the building, one of the oldest 
in Gaza according to locals, collapsed, witnesses and the Israeli army said.

The minaret was left standing, but most of the building was reduced to rubble.

The Israeli military, which earlier demolished a wall of the mosque 
compound and fired stun grenades and tear gas inside, said the 
collapse was the result of gunfire and damage done during the 12-hour siege.

Residents of the town of 30,000 people said Beit Hanoun was now 
effectively under an Israeli army curfew after infantry units backed 
by tanks stormed into the town on Wednesday.

At a Hamas rally after nightfall on Thursday in Gaza City, Ismail 
Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, called the Israeli offensive 
"terrorism".

Deaths continue

Israel's offensive, called Operation Autumn Clouds, began on 
Wednesday and is aimed partly at halting the barrage of rockets into 
Israeli territory.

Despite the Israeli assault, Palestinian fighters still managed to 
fire six homemade missiles at the Israeli border town of Sderot on 
Thursday, wounding at least two people, medical officials said.

Overnight on Wednesday, eight Palestinians were killed in the Israeli 
raids, including at least five fighters, four of whom were from 
Hamas' armed wing, witnesses said.

An Israeli soldier was also killed during the Beit Hanoun operation. 
Hamas' armed wing said it had killed the Israeli soldier and wounded 
several others.



More than 280 Palestinians have been killed in the four-month-old 
offensive, about half of them civilians, while three Israeli soldiers 
have died.

Agencies

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/28281EF3-0276-4DED-B367-B74C0DAFDE89.htm 



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