csua.org/u/7db -> www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38959-2004May19.html
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Israel Kills at Least 12 Palestinians in Gaza Palestinian Protesters Struck by Tank, Helicopter Fire By Glenn Frankel Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, May 20, 2004; At least seven Palestinians were killed and dozens more wounded, many of them children, as explosives and shrapnel ripped through the crowd.
Witnesses and survivors said soldiers gave no warning before opening fire, in one of the deadliest incidents involving Palestinian civilians since the uprising began nearly four years ago. Senior Israeli military officials confirmed that a rocket and tank shells were fired but insisted they were meant as warning shots and were not aimed at the demonstrators walking from the center of this city in the southern Gaza Strip toward the Tel Sultan neighborhood, which was sealed off by Israeli forces for the second straight day. The officials conceded that one or more of the rounds might have gone off-target, and the army chief of staff, Lt. Moshe Yaalon, and a wide array of cabinet ministers and official spokesmen took to the airwaves within hours to express regret and sorrow over the incident. Jacob Dallal, said that soldiers in the tank that opened fire believed their lives were endangered and that intelligence sources asserted there were gunmen in the crowd. But Palestinian witnesses insisted there were no fighters or weapons among the marchers and that the tank was more than 200 yards away. Five more Palestinians were killed inside Tel Sultan neighborhood, as the army continued its house-to-house hunt for militants and weapons. Soldiers ordered all male residents from ages 16 to 50 to report to a local police station, while members of militant factions were called on to surrender by waving white flags or risk being shot. The killings brought the Palestinian death toll to at least 31 in the past two days, the largest toll in a single military operation in the Gaza Strip in several decades. Wednesday's killings triggered a wave of international condemnation, with the European Union and world leaders denouncing the military's action. The UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning the killing of civilians and demanding that Israel halt the demolition of Palestinians' homes, news services reported. The 15-member council adopted the measure by a vote of 14-0, with the United States abstaining. In Washington, President Bush urged restraint but stopped short of condemning Israel's actions. but I will continue to speak out about the need for all parties to respect innocent life in the Middle East," Bush said. In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Israel's ongoing Gaza operation "unacceptable and wrong," and visiting Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain also criticized Israel's tactics. Although Israeli tanks and snipers have ringed Rafah since early Monday morning, cutting off the city and the adjacent refugee camp from the rest of Gaza, most of the area had remained tranquil until Wednesday afternoon, when the Palestinian Authority and various militant factions issued a joint call for protest. A crowd of demonstrators started gathering outside the Awdah mosque in the city center. Young boys waving flags and banners of the various militant factions were in front as the crowd started rolling northwest on Bahar Street toward Tel Sultan, swelling in numbers and anger as it went. By the time it reached the Zourob intersection, witnesses said, there were nearly 2,000 people chanting slogans and shouting "Jihad!" At a bend in the road, they spotted an Israeli tank in the distance and many hesitated, but those in front kept walking. Some threw stones toward the tank that fell well short of their target. Suddenly, the tank opened fire, according to witnesses and survivors. The artillery shell hit an electricity pylon and detonated, they said, sending razor-sharp fragments of the pylon and the shell casing mowing through the demonstrators.
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