Failed Israeli Assassination Wounds 13 Bystanders, 2 Critically Second Israeli among 17 Wounded in Anti-Apartheid Wall Protest

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An Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) US-made Apache helicopter fired two missiles at a civilian car wounding at least 13 bystanders, two of them seriously, in a failed extra-judicial execution late Tuesday, only hours after shooting dead a 22-year old Palestinian in the Gaza Strip, as their troops and military vehicles reinvaded the city of Nablus and its adjacent Balata refugee camp in the West Bank. The IOF also on Wednesday wounded at least 17 Palestinians and an Israeli peace activist west of Ramallah.

Witnesses said a Fiat with was traveling toward the Sheik Radwan neighborhood, a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City, late Tuesday, when IOF US-made Apache helicopters opened fire.

“I saw a flame hit a small car and people trying to escape from the car,” said Raouf Musalam, a pharmacy owner who witnessed the attack.

“Apaches were overhead for about two minutes while people rushed to help the wounded people.”

Hospital officials in Gaza said at least 13 people were wounded in the attack, two of them critically.

Dr. Jomma Saka of Gaza's Shifa Hospital said 11 bystanders were taken to the hospital. One was in critical condition, another suffered moderate injuries, and the rest were slightly wounded, he said.

IOF issued a statement saying the targets were senior Hamas activists “actively engaged in planning” attacks against Israeli targets.

Hamas officials said one of the people in the car was a midlevel commander, Jamal Jarrah.

Witnesses told Aljazeera satellite TV that Jarrah, his wife and a third passenger survived when they left the car soon after the first Israeli missile failed to hit the car.

Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yasin said Israel would pay a heavy price for the attack.

“These massacres and crimes prove that Israel is seeking violence and not looking for peace, security and stability,” he said.

Congratulations at Jarrah's survival blared from loudspeakers on mosques in the neighborhood.

“The assassination attempt marks a continuing campaign of aggression and crimes against our people,” Saeed Seyam, a Hamas leader, told Reuters. “It will not bring security to the Israelis. It will not weaken the resistance of our people.”

Israel has frequently carried out similar air strikes aimed at Palestinian activists in internationally - condemned extra-judicial executions, which Israelis call “targeted killings.”

Israeli helicopters struck targets in the Gaza Strip last Thursday, killing three Islamic Jihad activists and two civilians, the first such assassinations in two months.

Palestinian officials, trying to secure truce and a halt in attacks on Israelis, have been trying to win Israeli guarantees of a halt in such assassination attacks.

The IOF Chief-of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said days ago that Hamas appeared to have halted attacks inside Israel.

Earlier on Tuesday, IOF soldiers killed one Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip while at the same time, invading several West Bank towns and cities, imposing curfews and destroying homes.

Twenty-two year old Fadal Fawzi al-Najar suffered fatal injuries after IOF shot him in the chest Tuesday in the Kizan Alnajjar area, near Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip close to the border with Egypt.

Separately 30 IOF tanks and military vehicles have stormed into the southern Gaza Strip community of Shokeh, south east of Rafah, and detained 4 Palestinians early Tuesday, WAFA reported.

In the West Bank the IOF reinvaded early Tuesday the northern city of Nablus and its adjacent Balata refugee camp, carried out house-to-houses searches, in a pre-dawn operation involving some 30 jeeps and four tanks, Palestinian security sources said.

Residents in a neighborhood of the Old City were ordered out of their homes as IOF troops sealed off the area and conducted their searches from around 4:00 am (0200 GMT), the sources added. Later IOF forced about 40,000 people to stay in their homes and keeping schoolchildren at home, witnesses said.

IOF on Tuesday were preparing to dynamite a number of archeological buildings in the Qasabah (old city) of Nablus, including the historical Qasre Al Abdul Hadi, as Palestinian activists were racing against time to avert the measure by filing a petition with Israeli courts.

An IOF spokesman said the "terror infrastructure" was continuing to operate in Nablus. He said one suspect had been arrested overnight.

In the adjacent Balata refugee camp 16 Palestinian houses were set for demolition. The IOF on Tuesday handed over notices to this effect to the owners of the houses.

IOF demolished more than 10,000 Palestinian houses since 1967 and at least 3,000 more since the eruption of Al Aqsa Intifada (uprising) against the 36-year old Israeli occupation late in September 2000.

Palestinians in Nablus said the Israeli troops left their town at dawn Monday, releasing a curfew that had confined most of the 150,000 residents of the West Bank's largest city to their homes for a week.

Earlier Tuesday the IOF also sealed off and imposed a curfew on the West Bank village of Kufr Malek, east of Ramallah.

Early Wednesday IOF troops opened fire on protesters against the Apartheid Wall that the Jewish state is building on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and wounded at least 16 Palestinians and one Israeli peace activist at a construction site near the Palestinian village of Burdos, west of Ramallah, witnesses said.

Wednesday's incident was the second time in five days that the IOF opened fire at demonstrators gathered by the Wall.

In the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya on Friday the IOF shot another Israeli peace activist and wounded him with a live bullet. Gil Na'amati, 22, was shot with two live bullets in both legs and was badly injured and American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was also injured by a bullet.

According to media reports, the protestors near Budros threw stones Wednesday at the bulldozers, which started preparing the ground for a new stretch of the Wall. At least six people were arrested by the IOF.

Jonathan Pollak, a member of the Israeli Anarchists against the Wall organization, told Reuters that during Wednesday's incident, Israeli soldiers fired at the mostly Palestinian protesters as well as Israelis and foreigners. According to him, at least 10 Palestinians were hit and taken off for hospital treatment while an Israeli woman was slightly wounded in her leg.

Early reports said that villagers from Budros and their Israeli and International supporters, made a peaceful march onto Budros lands, which are being confiscated and cleared for the construction of the Apartheid wall.

Protesters were met by the IOF who opened fire on the crowd with live bullets, rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Over 100 rubber bullets were aimed at people’s heads. 17 people were taken to hospital.

Gustav Fridolin, a Swedish member of parliament, was among the group of detained protesters.

Israeli protester Nimrod Kerreet has been badly beaten. The Israel group Anarchists Against Walls was among the protesters in Budros Wednesday.

If this phase of the Wall construction is allowed to continue, Budros will be largely surrounded by it and rendered an enclave.