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Gaza Strip braces for more violence after 21 killed

The Gaza Strip braced for more violence yesterday after three Israeli soldiers and 18 Palestinians, including a cameraman for an international news agency, were killed in a helicopter-backed incursion.

Hamas has vowed to avenge Wednesday’s assault on the impoverished territory, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Islamist movement bears “direct responsibility” for the fighting.

Reacting to Wednesday’s violence, which also saw the deaths of five Palestinians under the age of 15, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said that “all options are open to repel this aggression against our people.”

In an Internet statement Hamas called on its fighters to attack Israel “in every place and with all means available.”

The threats came after the deadliest day in the Hamas-ruled territory in weeks and as Israeli troops continued to strike Palestinian militants, killing two Islamic Jihad fighters in a pre-dawn operation in the northern West Bank.

Yesterday also highlighted the dangers to non-combatants and the press. Hundreds of people marched in Gaza City at the funeral for 23-year-old Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, who was killed by a shell fired from an Israeli tank he was filming. That blast also killed three other people, including two boys on a bicycle.

Shana had been standing next to a jeep clearly marked with “TV” and “Press” stickers, Reuters said. A videotape found in the camera shows a wide shot with the tank on the horizon seconds before it fired the shell that killed him.
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