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Journalism of Courage
The Israeli Army widened its massive operation in Northern Gaza today, as an 11-year-old schoolgirl became the latest victim of a fortnight of violence in the Palestinian territory.
Dozens of tanks and Army bulldozers rolled into the town of Beit Lahiya in the early hours as the focus of operation days of penitence, which has claimed the lives of 116 Palestinians, shifted North from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.
They flattened several buildings and fields as they entered the area, an afp correspondent reported, but failed to prevent Palestinian militants from firing more home-made Qassam rockets at Israel.
Palestinian sources said two militants were killed by Israeli shelling in Beit Lahiya, adding that both were members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.
Colonel Eyal Eizenberg, commander of the Israeli Army’s elite Givati Infantry regiment said his troops met significant resistance, including firing from the direction of mosques. ‘‘Explosive charges were operated against US and we were also met with anti-tank rockets which hit one of our (armoured) vehicles,’’ he said.
‘‘We intend to reduce the Qassam rocket fire at Israel… I think that we have conveyed this message to the Palestinians over the past two weeks. If this message is not understood, we will intensify our control on the ground.’’
The operation in Gaza has come in for widespread criticism, with nearly one quarter of the victims aged under 18. Medical sources said an 11-year-old schoolgirl who was wounded by Israeli Army gunfire while sitting at her desk in a UN-run school in Gaza had died of her injuries. —PTI
