Two Palestinian Islamic groups on Thursday lambasted Israel for its overnight tank shelling in the Gaza Strip that killed four members of the same Palestinian family, with one group vowing bloody
revenge.
”We strongly condemn this ugly massacre. This crime is part of Israel’s aggression and war against pour people. Our response will be a new escalation in our resistance,” Ismail Haniya, a senior official of Hamas threatened.
The four civilians were killed by a shell when Israeli tanks carried out an incursion near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said.
The circumstances of the incident remained unclear on Thursday morning, with the army saying only it had ”located suspect individuals” before staging the incursion, which also left another five members of the same family injured, one critically.
Haniya also urged Palestinian interior minister Abdel Razaq al-Yahya to cancel a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer aimed at discussing an arrangement providing for a
Palestinian crackdown on militants in exchange for a partial withdrawal from recently reoccupied areas, including the Gaza Strip.
”We urge the Palestinian Authority to cancel the third security meeting with Israel,” said Haniya.
Nabil Abu Rudeina, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s top adviser, said after the killing that the meeting, which was originally slated for Wednesday and was postponed by Israel, was still expected to take place on Thursday.
Mohammad al-Hindi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, also condemned the shelling and echoed Hamas’ call for an end to the ongoing security talks.
”This massacre will give more strength to our jihad (holy war) against the Zionists and only confirms the Israeli plan against the Palestinian people,” he told AFP.
”We ask the Palestinian Authority to stop all the meetings with the Zionists. No meeting is possible before a complete Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories” occupied in 1967, Hindi added. – Sapa-AFP