An Israeli army bulldozer crushed an American peace activist to death in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in what witnesses described as a deliberate killing.
Rachel Corrie, 23, died as she attempted to prevent the military destroying homes in the Rafah refugee camp, one of the most dangerous in the occupied territories.
"She was standing on top of a pile of earth," said another activist, Richard Purssell, who was a few meters away.
PHOTO: AP
"The driver cannot have failed to see her. As the blade pushed the pile, the earth rose up. Rachel slid down the pile. It looks as if she got her foot caught. The driver didn't slow down; he just ran over her. Then he reversed the bulldozer back over her again. She was very courageous," Purssell said.
Other activists said the bulldozer had approached from several meters away and that Corrie, who was wearing a brightly colored jacket, was waving and they were shouting at the driver to stop but he ignored them.
Witnesses said another protester had been slightly injured about half an hour earlier when the bulldozer knocked him into barbed wire.
PHOTO: AP
Corrie was one of eight foreign volunteers -- four from the US and four from Britain -- with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) seeking to block house demolitions.
Purssell, from Brighton, England, said that earlier an Israeli tank protecting the bulldozer had attempted to drive protesters away with warning shots and teargas. But there had been no trouble immediately before Corrie was crushed.
Doctors at al-Najar hospital said she had died from skull and chest fractures. The Israeli military described the death as a "very regrettable accident."
"We are dealing with a group of protesters who are acting very irresponsibly, putting everyone in danger -- the Palestinians, themselves and our forces -- by intentionally placing themselves in a combat zone," the army said.
"We are checking the details of the incident and believe it to be a very regrettable accident," the army said.
ISM volunteers frequently act as human shields to hinder demolitions, delay the construction of the new "security" wall in the West Bank or to help protect Palestinians harvesting their crops under threat from Jewish settlers.
An ISM spokesman in the US said on Sunday that Corrie was a student in Olympia, Washington.
She is the first foreign peace activist killed in the occupied territories during the past two and a half years of intifada.
Another witness, Mansour Abed Allah, a Palestinian human rights worker in Rafah, said it was ironic that an American should be killed by an US-made bulldozer: "America is providing Israel with tanks and bulldozers, and now they killed one of their own people."
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
RSS