Israeli Forces Continue Major Gaza Raid

Friday, October 10, 2003

(4:05 PM ET)

By Khalil Hamra

Associated Press Writer

“So far we've found two tunnels. We believe that the results will improve in the course of the operation,” said Col. Eyal Eisenberg, who was in charge of the operation.

Government spokesman Dore Gold said Israel was forced to go after militant groups and their infrastructure because the Palestinian leadership had not done so. “In uncovering the vast network of arms smuggling tunnels in the area of Rafah, Israel is compelled again to do the work that the Palestinian Authority is supposed to do.”

Israeli army soldier aims a night vision rifle from atop of an armored personnel carrier during an Israeli army operation in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early Friday Oct. 10, 2003. Israeli forces trying to demolish Palestinian weapons smuggling tunnels fought gunmen for hours Friday in the largest army raid in half a year in Rafah, a frequent battlefield. Three Palestinians were killed and 35 wounded, and an Israeli soldier was also hurt.

Image Credit: Gil Cohen Magen -- AP

RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip -- AP
Moving deep inside this shantytown on the Egyptian border, Israeli troops hunted for weapons smuggling tunnels and searched houses Friday. It was the biggest army raid in the Gaza Strip in nearly six months.

Gun battles erupted between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen during the raid in the Rafah refugee camp. Seven Palestinians were killed, including an 8-year-old boy, and 62 were wounded. One Israeli soldier was lightly wounded.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attended Friday prayers at his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah. He seemed stronger after what aides said was a bout of stomach flu, and sat cross-legged, attentive and smiling. Arafat confidants have denied rumors he is suffering from a serious illness.

Some news reports said Arafat had suffered a mild heart attack or had stomach cancer and needed to undergo surgery; Arafat himself was said to be fearful he might have been poisoned. All those reports were untrue, according to his doctors and aides.

Israel's raid of Rafah, a frequent battlefield, began around midnight Thursday and could last several days, military sources said. That means the action could signal a new approach to dealing with the camps. In the past, Israeli troops would conduct only rapid raids into the highly dangerous refugee camps and then leave quickly to try to minimize the risk of casualties.

The raid was part of stepped-up military activity after last weekend's suicide bombing that killed 20 Israelis in a restaurant in the port city of Haifa. On Sunday, Israel struck what it said was a Palestinian militant training camp inside Syria.

Earlier this week, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered two more battalions into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and decided to call up four battalions of reserve soldiers, or about 1,000 troops, after the Sukkot holiday that ends in a week.

Troops have been enforcing a strict travel ban, confining Palestinians in the West Bank to their communities and blocking main roads in the Gaza Strip.
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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan