Israel set off an explosion in an olive grove near the house of a senior Hamas activist early yesterday, killing five Palestinians and wounding seven, two of them critically.
The Israeli military said the Hamas leader was targeted in an operation by the air force, but provided no details.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In the past four years of fighting, Israel has carried out scores of targeted attacks on militants, firing missiles from aircraft.
However, Palestinian witness-es said they saw no helicopters or fighter planes at the time of yesterday's explosion outside the home of Ahmed Jabari, the Hamas activist, in Gaza City.
mysterious strike
Jabari's neighbors said that at around the time of the blast, they spotted an Israeli drone -- an unmanned aircraft used for observation -- in the area. Several men were in an olive grove next to Jabari's house at the time.
It was not clear if Jabari was hurt in the blast.
Palestinian hospital officials said two of the dead were Hamas militants and another was with the Islamic Jihad group. The others were not identified.
Israel Radio said Jabari's brother and son were among those killed.
Seven people were wounded, two critically, hospital officials said.
In announcing a targeted attack, the Israeli military usually says how it was carried out, whether by helicopter or warplane. However, yesterday's description was vague.
"The Israeli Air Force targeted a senior Hamas terrorist in an operation by the Israeli security forces in the northern Gaza Strip," the statement said.
SETTLEMENTS
On Tuesday, Sharon approved the construction of 1,000 new housing units in four large West Bank settlements.
Though the settlement construction violates the US-backed "road map" peace plan, US reaction was muted compared to earlier statements denouncing settlement building.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, "Our concern is to determine whether these tenders are consistent with Israel's commitments" to stop construction.
The text of the "road map" is clear: Israel "freezes all settlement activity [including natural growth of settlements]."
However, the Israelis note that Bush acknowledged that even in a peace arrangement, Israel would not be expected to give up main settlement blocs in the West Bank.
In a phone conversation with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday, Sharon said he would go ahead with the Gaza pullout, Sharon's office said. Egypt has been working for a smooth transition of power after the Israeli pullout.
Mubarak discussed "the deteriorating situation in Palestinian territories, especially in Gaza Strip," according to Cairo's Middle East News Agency, and appealed for an end to violence on both sides.
In the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday, soldiers shot and killed a 9-year-old boy, Palestinians said.
The area was under Israeli curfew. The military said soldiers opened fire three times in Nablus on Tuesday but did not know of any deaths.
The military also said that soldiers found a workshop in Nablus where Palestinians were making rockets.
Up to now, militants have fired homemade rockets only from Gaza.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS