Palestinian medics said that seven Palestinians were killed on Wednesday, most of them were militants, adding that the death toll since the beginning of the operation hit to 15 killed and more than 100 wounded.

    Resident said the Israeli army imposed a curfew on the whole town and ordered every male aged between 16 and 45 to gather into one of the schools in the town.

    They added that many of them were interrogated and beaten by the soldiers, while at least 100 people were arrested. "The school turned into a detention camp," said the residents.

    The Israeli army said the aim of the operation into northern Gaza Strip is aiming at reining on Palestinian militant groups who are firing homemade rockets round the clock on Israeli communities in southern Israel.

    Different militant groups claimed responsibility on Thursday afternoon for launching several homemade rockets at Israel. Three Israelis were injured earlier Thursday by the shrapnel of a homemade rocket fired from Gaza.

 

Israeli "Cloud of Autumn" operation expands, 23 killed
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Palestinian medics said on Friday that 23 people, including militants, women and children, were killed as the Israeli army ground military operation called "Cloud of Autumn " went on in northern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army stormed early Wednesday the border town of Beit Hanoun between northern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Residents in the town said on Friday that Israeli forces had completely seized the town and imposed a curfew on it, and the town had witnessed clashes between militants and Israeli soldiers.

Joma'a al-Saqqa, chief of emergency at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza City, said that the Israeli army killed on Friday seven Palestinians, four of them women and children.

Of the dead, two women were from a parade of woman demonstrators, who gathered and marched toward the occupied town from nearby towns and refugee camps in northern Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers opened fire and dispersed them when they approached the besieged town, killing two women and wounding 15 others, according to witnesses.

Local residents also said that Israeli snipers shot dead on Friday morning two Palestinian teens, residents of the town, and wounded five others.

Meanwhile, witnesses and security sources said that an Israeli army reconnaissance drone fired one missile at a car driving east of Gaza City, killing three Hamas militants.

The Israeli army killed eight people on Wednesday and another eight and on Thursday, Al-Saqqa said, adding that so far, 23 people have been killed in northern Gaza Strip.

Residents said that in Beit Hanoun, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles were stationed on major crossroads, adding that sounds of shooting and gunfire could be heard all the time.

According to residents, Israeli army bulldozers demolished a mosque in the town, where about 50 militants were believed to be hiding up. The militants, however, managed to flee the mosque, according to the residents.

The Israeli army also called on males aged between 16 and 45 to gather in the playground of a school in the town and detained at least 100, residents said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the aim of the operation in the town was to curb rampant homemade rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant groups from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for firing dozens of homemade rockets and mortar shells at Israeli communities in southern Israel as well as firing missiles at Israeli army vehicles.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, an Israeli army unit arrested Abdel Rahman Zeidan, minister of Work and Municipal Affairs in the Hamas-led government, from his home.

Since the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in Gaza on June 25, Israel has detained many Palestinians ministers and lawmakers, most of them from the ruling Hamas movement.

In the city of Nablus in northern West Bank, an Israeli army force on Friday shot dead a 15-year-old boy, the brother of a militant from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in an attack on their home.

Source: Xinhua

The Israeli army killed eight people on Wednesday and another eight and on Thursday, Al-Saqqa said, adding that so far, 23 people have been killed in northern Gaza Strip.

Residents said that in Beit Hanoun, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles were stationed on major crossroads, adding that sounds of shooting and gunfire could be heard all the time.

According to residents, Israeli army bulldozers demolished a mosque in the town, where about 50 militants were believed to be hiding up. The militants, however, managed to flee the mosque, according to the residents.  

They were in a surrounded building - How could they flee??

The Israeli army also called on males aged between 16 and 45 to gather in the playground of a school in the town and detained at least 100, residents said.

 

Jews held kids at mosque

     
 

الجزيرة

Mass kidnapping of Palestinian men in Beit Hanoun by Israeli occupation forces

Date: 02 / 11 / 2006 Time: 17:02

Gaza - Ma'an -

Israeli occupation forces, on Thursday afternoon, transferred the males of Beit Hanoun aged between 16-45 in a convoy of large trucks to unknown destinations.

Security sources reported that the Israeli occupation forces called the men through loudspeakers, and gathered them in front of An-Nassr mosque in the north of Beit Hanoun.

 

In addition, Palestinian sources stated that Nadi Salim Ubaid, 20, from the Al-Shuja'iya district was injured, while medical personnel can not transfer him to hospital. According to the director of relief and ambulances, the young man is being detained by Israelis near the border line between the Gaza Strip and Israeli territory.

 

And Israel’s brave soldiers do not think twice before firing at a crowd of peaceful women protesters. The siege and attack on Beit Hanun mosque in northern Gaza on Friday killed two women and seriously injured dozens of them.

The scenes of women wailing over their children — as young as 15 — and children crying for their mothers are truly heart-rending despite the fact that they have long been a regular feature of the life in occupied Palestine

Also on Saturday, a 12-year-old girl was shot in the head and killed by an Israeli sniper in Gaza, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military expressed regret, saying the sniper was aiming at an armed militant.

  
     

 

 

What utter nonsense

As the women rushed away from the scene, at least two men disguised in women's clothes were seen in the crowd. Jubilant bystanders embraced them, celebrating their escape.

"Our fighters made holes through the nearby houses to the mosque. The women entered the mosque as the fighters managed to guide the gunmen out," said Hamas militant commander Abu Ubaida.