Israel Retakes Parts of Gaza, Closes Egypt Border

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Israel Retakes Parts of Gaza, Closes Egypt Border
bhaloo
04/17/01 at 10:20:13
slm


Israel Retakes Parts of Gaza, Closes Egypt Border


By Wafa Amr

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel unleashed a hail of fire on the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip (news - web sites) overnight, taking back parts of the territory on Tuesday, closing its border with Egypt and leaving life in the area in disarray.

One Palestinian was killed and 30 were wounded in the missile assault and, in the latest sign of right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s ``get tough'' policy, the 27-mile long Gaza Strip was effectively carved into three separate zones. Its main coastal road was cut by Israeli checkpoints.

Protests involving thousands of people broke out in other Palestinian-controlled areas like Hebron and elsewhere in the West Bank.

Israel closed for an indefinite period the Egyptian-Israeli border crossing in the Rafah area at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian border official said.

The official said 25 vehicles carrying aid and other goods to the Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side. The army said Sharon had ordered the strikes on Gaza late on Monday after five mortar bombs fired from the Strip hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot three miles away. The military wing of the Muslim militant group Hamas said it had fired them.

The mortar rounds landed deeper in Israel than any since the start of a Palestinian uprising for independence last September, falling just down the road from Sharon's Negev Desert ranch.

Some residents used donkeys and made long detours to get to destinations in the Strip, where 1.2 million Palestinians live in an area that at some points is just 2.5 miles wide.

Gaza City's main police headquarters and two elite Force 17 security unit posts were among at least seven main targets hit in an attack that lasted for hours. An Israeli army spokesman declined to say how long troops would remain in what had been Palestinian-controlled areas.

Palestinian sources said a 24-year-old Palestinian policeman had been killed in the Israeli reprisal.

``Night Of Horror''

``We lived a night of fire, war and horror,'' a 30-year-old resident of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun said.

``You could not imagine what happened. There was fire in the sky. Men, women and children were running everywhere throughout the night as bullets flew over their heads,'' he added.

Apart from the wounded, hospitals reported that relatives had brought dozens of people in for help from shock after they endured six hours of night bombardment that residents said was the worst since the start of violence seven months ago.

The Gaza attacks, involving tanks, helicopter gunships, missiles, ships and bulldozers, began less than 24 hours after Israel's first bombing raid on a Syrian target in Lebanon for five years.

Arab nations blasted Israel's security offensive and western nations called for restraint on all sides.

Donkey Carts

Photos

Reuters Photo


In the Gaza Strip, hundreds of children, men, women, students and workers turned to beach travel in donkey carts to take them to points where they could pick up taxis and buses.

Israel had tanks on main roads, all of which were closed.

``That's too much, that's too much,'' said a breathless elderly woman climbing up a sandy hill on her way to Gaza City.

An Israeli bulldozer dug a trench in the coastal road and piled it with stones to bar traffic.

``It's clear that Israel has expanded the sphere of war with the Palestinians. It has carried out a new and dangerous step by reoccupying Palestinian areas,'' Palestinian cabinet minister Hassan Asfour told Reuters.

Witnesses said the army had thrust into Palestinian-ruled Beit Hanoun near the Erez crossing to Israel and at several other points. Blockades kept Palestinians from entering an area of homes and orchards.

The army said it had taken over the land because it was being used for actions against Israel and would leave once violence ended.

Israel transferred most of the Gaza Strip to Palestinian rule in 1994 at the start of seven years of peacemaking, which deadlocked before the latest spate of violence began.

Palestinian Deaths Now At Least 378

``It is high time Arab leaders reconsidered their ways of how to confront and how to put an end to this aggression...Will they wake up after all the Palestinian land is reoccupied and after Israel enters all Arab capitals?'' Palestinian minister Asfour said.

At least 378 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 71 other Israelis have died since the uprising began in September. The dead included a Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israeli troops after he stabbed and lightly wounded a soldier in the West Bank.

``We are not speaking of an occupation, we are speaking of taking control,'' Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey told Israel Radio.

``We are speaking of a shifting to the depth of the Palestinian territory of a few hundred meters (yards) up to a kilometer (half a mile) in certain places,'' Kitrey said.

He said troops could stay a few days or ``a few more days'' until the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) restored order to its own people.

NS
Re: Israel Retakes Parts of Gaza, Closes Egypt Border
BroHanif
04/17/01 at 17:09:32
Nothing but words...
Give our brothers a few tanks, some MI6's, some SAM's, some MIG's, some Apaches, brew it together with Islamic unity and insha-allah the occupied land will be freed. And peace will exist for all even, the Jews.
Re: Israel Retakes Parts of Gaza, Closes Egypt Border
Anwar
04/18/01 at 20:17:01
Aslamu alaikum

The occupied land will never be freed until the surrounding Arabs bury their nationalism, return back to their religion by stop looking to the USA and the world to solve their problems but instead turning to Allah (swt), asking for His Help, wanting to implement His Word and following His Messanger [saw].

Until that happens, they will continue to be humiliated, slaughtered and the Kuffar will do with them as they please, Allahu wa alim.

wa salam
Re: Israel Retakes Parts of Gaza, Closes Egypt Border
sis
04/19/01 at 07:02:06
alsalamu alaykum wa rhmat Allah wa barakatuhu

i pray insha'Allah ur all in the  best of conditions and a rising state of iman:-)

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji3un. This past week alone, there has been so much bad news about alquds....:(

i'm a little confused(i only wish to clarify every muslim's responsibility). i've just read something somewhere else on this board which was blaming only arabs for what is going on and there's just more to it than that. Br anwar ur observations are correct but the blame falls on the whole muslim ummah, not simply the arabs in that area. We all have to be steadfast in Islam, and if we're not, then the result is felt by the entire ummah. Unfortunately, nationalism exists amongst muslims of all origins. I was born and have lived in Canada my whole life. Muslims from almost everywhere live in my city and sadly, quite a few people still prefer to stick to their ways, hang with their people, and follow culturalistic ideals. This disunity of the ummah is reflected everywhere. Every bad thing that befalls the ummah is a result of our mistakes..since we're one ummah,we're all being tested...kashmir,  chechnya, afghanistan,  eritrea, and unfortunately everywhere,  there exists some sort of disaster that has befallen muslims.

The way we can change all this is by encouraging muslims around us and setting an example to LIVE Islam..and as always make dua' for muslims everywhere insha'Allah. Allahuma 3iz ilIslam walmuslimeen Allahuma nsor ilIslam walmuslimeen fi kulli makan.  We need to be constructive in our ways,  if we see our muslim brother/sister fall,  we need to rush to their aid and help them  stand up again  insha'Allah. And better yet,  be proactive and prevent the fall insha'Allah.

subhan Allah, the other day a sis mentionned how catholics are starting a movement to make their youth active. She also mentioned how the jews have begun their war, and the muslim ummah appears to be sleeping and overtaken by their love for this dunya. Alhamdulillah muslims are beginning to wake up-at least that is what i've noticed amongst the youth, we just have to keep the momentum going in the right direction insha'Allah

Any good in what i have said is from Allah ta'ala and any wrong i have said is from the shaytan and the weakness of my nafs. If i have made a mistake pls let me know.

walsalamu alaykum wa rhmat Allah wa barakatuhu




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