Israelis kill 15 Palestinians: Bloodiest day in ME violence
TEL AVIV, Oct 24: Israeli soldiers killed 15 Palestinians in overnight and early morning fighting on Wednesday, in the bloodiest day since the intifada began 13 months ago.
A sixteenth Palestinian died in Ramallah of wounds sustained in fighting four days ago.
The Israeli action comes despite reports that Israeli troops will soon end their crippling siege of six Palestinian cities in the West Bank, following massive international pressure.
Responding to U.S. demands for an immediate withdrawal, a defiant Premier Ariel Sharon told the Israeli Knesset (parliament) the army would stay until it achieved its mission, which he defined as “avoiding terrorism and arresting terrorists”.
“(Palestinian President Yassir) Arafat does not arrest, so we arrest,” he said.
Israel has entered and besieged Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, Qalqilya, Ramallah and Bethlehem since last Thursday, in apparent retaliation for the assassination last Wednesday of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi by guerillas from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The Israeli security cabinet is to meet on Thursday to discuss the U.S. demand for a withdrawal. Sources quoted by Israel Radio said, however, that the pullback would not begin before the end of the week.
The worst fighting on Wednesday took place in Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah on the West Bank, where Israeli troops shot dead 10 Palestinians in a pre-dawn gunbattle, an Israeli security source reported.
Palestinians accused the Israeli army of carrying out a “massacre”, saying some bled to death after the Israelis refused to allow ambulances in to treat the wounded.
“From two in the morning to eight in the morning people were bleeding without any active medical care,” Dr Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Medical Relief organization, said. Israel Radio said the dead were still lying at the scene of the fighting till well into the afternoon.
An Israeli army spokesman said only that there was a “delay” in allowing Palestinian ambulances to reach the wounded, and said Israeli and Palestinian doctors did treat the wounded on site.
The Israeli security source quoted by the radio said two of those killed have been identified as PFLP activists.
They were killed in gunbattles which erupted early on Wednesday as the army entered the village, some of them after being hunted down by the army, the source said.
Residents said the Israeli army took over several homes in the village and went through every home arresting people after imposing a curfew on it.
Israel Radio said Ze’evi’s killers came from Beit Rima.
A Palestinian also died in the village of Abu Dis, near occupied Al Quds, after he was shot while attempting to throw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli troops.
A 55-year-old Palestinian bystander was also shot dead during heavy fighting in Bethlehem.
In additional overnight action, Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians in the West Bank city of Tulkarm early on Wednesday morning. Four more received moderate injuries, hospital sources in Tulkarm said.
Israeli army bulldozers also destroyed the home of a guerilla in Tulkarm, the radio said. Israel says the guerilla, Riad Kami, was responsible for the death of five Israelis.—dpa
TEL AVIV, Oct 24: Israeli soldiers killed 15 Palestinians in overnight and early morning fighting on Wednesday, in the bloodiest day since the intifada began 13 months ago.
