Hamas Terrorist with UNWRA "day job" among ten dead in Gaza

[IMRA: The Ha'aretz Hebrew website article:
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=238540&contrassID=1
&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

reports that "The Hamas organization announced that Kandil was one of the
five Hamas activists killed in the operation."

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UN, EU slam Israel for using excessive force in Gaza raid

The UN workers were identified by UNRWA as Osama Hassan Tahrawi

By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular, Ha'aretz Correspondents, and Agencies 7
December 2002

Israel faced international criticism Saturday for its Friday morning army
operation in a crowded refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in which ten
Palestinians, including two UN workers, were killed.

The operation took place as Muslims celebrated Eid el-Fitr, the four-day
festival that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

The European Union foreign policy chief, Xavier Solana, said an operation in
such a densely populated area could "only lead to the loss of innocent
lives. "I extend my sincere condolences to the families of the victims, who
were celebrating the end of Ramadan and who are now in mourning," he said in
a statement released Saturday.

Peter Hansen, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN agency providing aid
for Palestinian refugees, slammed the IDF's use of "indiscriminate use of
heavy firepower" in an area populated by civilians.

The UN workers were identified by UNRWA as Osama Hassan Tahrawi, a
31-year-old school attendant who was killed along with two of his brothers
by a missile, and Ahlam Riziq Kandil, 31, an elementary school teacher who
died from shrapnel wounds.

The two, employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, were
killed in chaotic gunbattles sparked as IDF troops, backed by tanks and
helicopter gunships hunted a fugitive militant in a the crowded Gaza refugee
camp of Bureij.

One IDF soldier was lightly wounded in the incursion, the army said.

"This loss of civilian lives, of people working for a humanitarian UN
agency, is completely unacceptable," he said from Geneva. "I must condemn
what appears to be the indiscriminate use of heavy firepower in a densely
populated civilian area."

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, representing the European Union,
warned Israel that using "excessive might" could backfire.

"It's deeply tragic that completely innocent people again have been killed,"
Moeller told reporters in Copenhagen. "It creates a new fundament for more
terrorism, it creates anger."

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana accused Israel of using
"excessive force" in the raid.

Following the raid, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Israel to show
restraint, a spokesman said.

Annan was "gravely concerned" by the raid on the refugee camp, UN chief
spokesman Fred Eckhard said, noting the assault fell during Eid al-Fitr, one
of Islam's most important holidays.

"The secretary-general deplores the loss of innocent civilian life. He has
repeatedly urged Israel to refrain from the excessive and disproportionate
use of deadly force in civilian areas," Eckhard said.

"He wishes to remind the government of Israel of its obligations as an
occupying power to protect the civilian population, and urges them to ensure
that the Israeli Defense Forces behave with greater restraint and discipline
and in conformity with international humanitarian law," Eckhard said.

The United States on Friday chided Israel for killing Palestinian civilians
and destroying Palestinian homes but said Israel had a right to
self-defense.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declined to comment on the
incident but repeated standard U.S. criticism of Israeli conduct in the West
Bank and Gaza.

"We've made quite clear ... that the Israelis need to be aware of the
consequences of their actions. We have indeed been quite open about our
concerns about the Israeli activities, particularly the civilian casualties
that have resulted from many of the Israeli actions," he said.

"We've seen a number of people hurt and killed, old people, young people as
well. We've made our concerns clear about demolitions of houses, for
example."

Palestinians: Civilians killed; IDF: 5 Hamas activists dead
It was unclear how many of the dead were fighters. Palestinian sources said
there were a number of civilian fatalities. The camp's mayor, Kamal
Baghdadi, had originally said a tank shell had hit a building, killing seven
people, while the IDF said a helicopter fired a missile into a street,
killing five Hamas members.

The army said that the majority of the wounded were armed Palestinians who
sustained their injuries during the fighting. The commander of the Givati
Brigade, Colonel Eimad Farres, hailed the incursion as successful and
indicated that soldiers had only fired at armed Palestinians.

Asked why the troops had launched the raid on a Muslim holiday, IDF
spokeswoman Captain Sharon Feingold said: "We go after them [militants]
whenever we have intelligence."

"They don't respect our holidays. They attacked on Passover. There were more
attacks during Ramadan," she said, referring to a spate of suicide bombings
by Palestinian militants during Passover, in which dozens of Israelis were
killed and which preceded the IDF's massive Operation Defensive Shield.

She accused Palestinian militants of hiding behind civilians in the camps.
"It's a shame because the civilian population who's not involved in
terrorism... is the one to pay the price."

Ahmed Rabah, a doctor at the Al-Aqsa hospital in the nearby village of Dir
al-Balah, said nine men were killed and 11 were wounded. Rabah did not
identify the casualties. An official at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the
tenth person, a woman, died of injuries.

Local resident Hassan Safi, 49, said he was 300 yards (275 meters) away in
his home when an explosion rocked the neighborhood. He said he thought the
blast came from a tank shell.

"I rushed with my sons to the place, which was all destroyed," Safi said. "I
myself took out two people. The helicopter was firing with machine guns at
us, making it difficult to move."

Witnesses: IDF troops destroy suicide bomber's home
During the incursion, witnesses said troops surrounded the home of Jamal
Ismail, a suicide bomber who blew himself up along with another man in an
explosive-packed boat off the Gaza coast last month, wounding four Israeli
soldiers in a nearby navy patrol.

The IDF called the camp "a base for hardcore terror groups" of the militant
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee.

Brigadier General Yisrael Ziv said the operation targeted Aiman Shasniyeh, a
local leader for the Popular Resistance Committee, who the military believes
was behind a bomb attack on a heavily armored Merkava-3 tank that killed
three IDF soldiers in March.

Troops failed to find Shasniyeh but blew up his house. Soldiers arrested one
of his brothers, along with another man wanted by Israel, Ziv said.

He said resistance had been fierce and the army believed it had hit "armed
terrorists."

"We fired one shell from a helicopter at four armed men," he said. "We came
upon a lot of resistance and the forces fired at armed gunmen. We identified
12-14 at whom we fired. At times the battle was fought at very close range,
10 meters. They used Kalashnikov rifles and grenades and anti-tank shells."

It was Israel's second strike this week in Gaza targeting militants
allegedly involved in anti-tank attacks that have killed seven IDF soldiers
this year.