Israeli artillery fire on northern Gaza leaves two Palestinians dead

Thursday January 10, 2008 00:21

by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

Two Palestinians including a woman have been reportedly killed and three others wounded Wednesday when the Israeli artillery opened heavy fire towards a gathering of Palestinians near a house in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun.

illustration photo

Witnesses said that the Israeli fire hit Palestinian-owned house in the city, where a group of people were gathering just close to the house.

Medical sources confirmed the death of Khadra Wahdan, a woman of her twenties and Mohammad aLkafarna, a 16-year-old teen, as well as the injury of three others in the latest Israei shelling.

Earlier in the day , the Israeli army fire claimed the life of one Palestinian fighter and injured six others during an attack on the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahya.

Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahyia are the closest destinations to the northern Gaza-Israel border line, where Israeli army claims Palestinian resistance groups launch homemade shells onto nearby Israeli towns.

Israeli army , over the past week, has killed more than twenty Palestinians, a number of whom were civilians inside homes, during attacks on different parts of the Hamas-run coastal territory.

The latest deaths come as Gorge W. Bush of the United States, has just started a visit to the region in a bid to push stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process, relaunched by Washington in November 2007.

In September, 2007, Israel declared Gaza a 'hostile entity' and in October it began a series of 'apparently' punitive measures, including fuel supplies cut, Israel says are intended at stopping homemade shells fire.

In June2007, Israel imposed a complete closure on Gaza, right after Hamas took over the coastal region amidst a power struggle with Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas who favors peace with Israel.

According to Palestinian media sources, Palestinian death toll is estimated at 5.500 men, women and children, since the outbreak of Palestinian uprising
(Intifada) in September,2000, as the peace process deadlocked.