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Rediff.com  » News » Israeli onslaught kills 23 in Gaza

Israeli onslaught kills 23 in Gaza

Source: PTI
July 07, 2006 13:37 IST
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Amid escalating violence, at least 22 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed as Israel intensified military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Another air strike on Friday killed one Palestinian and wounded three others in northern Gaza, sources said.

Israel Defence Forces confirmed that one of its aircrafts had opened fire on a group of gunmen.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has called for international intervention to stop the IDF offensive, which he termed a "crime against humanity".

He called the Israeli operation "a desperate effort to undermine the Palestinian government under the pretext of a search for a missing soldier".

Meanwhile, the Hamas-led PA's Interior Minister Saeed Siam has declared an emergency in Gaza calling upon security forces to fulfil their "religious and moral duty to stand up to this aggression and cowardly Zionist invasion".

But the National Security Force, which answers directly to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said in a
statement it had received no such instructions.

Five other Palestinian security agencies did not comment.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal said Siam had declared a state of emergency, something which only Abbas has the authority to do constitutionally.

The two leaders have clashed in the past over their authority to bring about changes in the PA security forces.

The IDF was also investigating overnight whether Israeli soldier Yehuda Basel who was shot dead on Thursday may have been hit by friendly fire.

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