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| Friday, 5 March 2004 |
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Three Hamas members killed in Israeli air strike near Gaza City GAZACITY, Thursday (AFP) Three members of the hardline Palestinian movement Hamas suspected of planning an imminent attack on Israel were killed in an Israeli helicopter strike on their car near Gaza City. The car was targeted with two rockets close to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, which lies just south of Gaza City, witnesses said. Medical sources at Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital said two passers-by were injured in the attack. The three dead - named as Ammar Hassan, 25, Ibrahim al-Deiri, 38, and Tarad al-Jamal, 24 - were all members of the Islamist movement Hamas, according to Hamas and Palestinian security sources. An Israeli military spokesman said the car had been targeted as it was carrying leading Hamas members suspected of planning future attacks. "The Israeli air force attacked a vehicle transporting senior Hamas terrorists who were recently involved in numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets and were plannning additional attacks," he told AFP. Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner said the group had been preparing an imminent attack, without giving details of the target. "We stopped a murder in the making. We saved many human lives," he told AFP. "To our regret we know of no other way to stop terrorists while they are in the territories and planning to attack innocent Israelis." A masked Hamas follower at the Shifa hospital vowed that the group "would deliver a swift response to this crime". "The Zionist entity must be prepared to suffer painful blows," he added. The latest deaths bring the overall toll since the start of the Palestinian intifada in September 2000 to 3,797, including 2,843 Palestinians and 886 Israelis. The Israeli military's chief of staff, Moshe Yaalon, announced on Tuesday that the army would intensify its operations against militant groups in the Palestinian territories. "In the light of the intensification of the activities of the terrorist organisations over the last few weeks, we will intensify our anti-terror operations," Yaalon told army radio. Netzarim, whose 65 families are guarded by an entire army battalion, is set to be dismantled as part of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial plan to disengage from the Palestinians. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the latest attack was proof of Israel's aggressive intent despite its talk of withdrawing from Gaza. "This crime shows that Israel is determined to go on with the incursions, assassinations and settlement activity while at the same time sending out test balloons," he told AFP. Senior aides to Sharon returned home early Wednesday from Washington after having failed so far to secure US backing for the disengagement plan. |
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