A Child among 6 Palestinians Killed by IOF 24 Hrs

A Child among 6 Palestinians Killed by IOF in 24 Hours

Hamas Leader Survives Assassination Attempt, His Son Killed

The Palestinian leadership on Tuesday strongly condemned the renewed Israeli assassinations and the two bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, saying it “will not tolerate them.” Both the leadership and the Prime Minister-nominee said that the deteriorating security situation requires an immediate and urgent intervention by the Quartet of the US, the EU, the UN and Russia “before it is too late.”

The leadership has repeatedly condemned the Israeli assassination policy.

On Wednesday, it reiterated its condemnation immediately after an Israeli F-16 fighter jet bombed the family house of the Hamas politburo member and spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahhar in Gaza city, killing his eldest 24-year old son and one of his bodyguards, seriously injuring his wife and leveling the building to ground.

Al-Zahhar himself survived and witnesses said they saw him walk away from the scene of the Israeli bombing early Wednesday.

“The security situation has reached a grave stage that threatens regional security and peace. This requires urgent international intervention to end the (Israeli) occupation, and requires sending international forces or monitors as soon as possible to stop the bloodshed of innocents on both sides,” the leadership said in a statement reported by the official news agency WAFA Wednesday.

The leadership appealed to US President George W. Bush and the Quartet “to take a decisive decision on the international level and we are ready to extend all the necessary measures to facilitate the success of such efforts,” the leadership concluded.

Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and the Prime Minister- nominee Ahmad Qurei (Abu Alaa) issued a similar statement Wednesday, adding that the Jerusalem bombing harms “our cause and the interests of our people.”

He appealed to the Quartet and the world community to shoulder their responsibilities “immediately and urgently before it is too late.”

The Palestinian leadership meanwhile, in a separate statement Tuesday, condemning the bombing in Tel Aviv noted that: “at the same time the (Israeli) occupation forces were killing three Palestinian citizens in (the southern West Bank city of) Hebron, including the 11-year old Thaer al-Siyouri, and the world watched the Israeli destruction units demolishing a 7-storey, 24-family apartment residential building, and displacement of the families, in addition to a martyr (killed by Israeli Occupation Forces “IOF”) in Gaza.”

The IOF on Tuesday killed a Palestinian man identified as Ahmed Uthman Bader in Hebron, claiming he was a “wanted” Hamas member, in a fresh extra-judicial assassination.

Another Palestinian was killed with Bader, who has yet to be identified.

Their deaths bring the total toll since the start of the Palestinian intifada against the 36-year-old Israeli occupation nearly three years ago to 3,453, including 2,589 Palestinians and 803 Israelis, according to an AFP count.

A ten-year old girl was seriously injured.

Two other Palestinians, a man and a young woman, were also injured during the Israeli extra-judicial assassination in Hebron. They were named as factory worker Bassem Al-Dajani and 18-year-old Tartil Gheith.

Since the Assassination of Hamas politburo member Ismael Abu Shanab on August 21, the IOF have extra-judicially executed at least 14 Palestinian activists, together with at least 4 children and an elderly, in addition to wounding scores of civilian bystanders.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have threatened to retaliate.

On Tuesday two bombers killed at least 14 Israelis in back-to-back attacks in west Jerusalem and near Tel Aviv.

The Tel Aviv explosion went off shortly before 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) in front of a bus stop near an Israeli military base, which sits close to the Assaf Harofeh hospital. At least seven were reported killed and many injured, mostly soldiers and military personnel.

About four hours later and in a late night attack on a cafe in west Jerusalem seven people were killed and some 40 wounded.

"After the operations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and despite the precautionary measures taken by the Zionists we say to them 'the time has come to pay for your daily crimes against the Palestinians'," the group said in a statement aired on the Qatari Al-Jazeera television channel.

"Rather than mere words we are using retaliation and vengeance," the statement added, stopping short of explicitly claiming responsibility for the attacks.

Israel has been placed on a high state of alert in the aftermath of a failed attempt last week to assassinate Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas.

Yassin warned after the attack on Saturday in Gaza that Israel would "pay a high price.”

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