Israel kills bystander in missile strike against Hamas militants

AN Israeli helicopter fired rockets at a car driving north of Gaza City yesterday, killing one bystander and wounding at least 26 others, witnesses said.

The passengers of the car, a small red Renault, apparently escaped.

Earlier, an Israeli gunboat shelled an area north of Gaza City, wounding seven people, witnesses said. The target of that attack was not immediately known.

Doctors and witnesses said the helicopter fired three missiles at the car of a Hamas fugitive. The target of the attack, a member of the Hamas military wing, managed to flee before the missiles struck the vehicle, witnesses said.

At the time of the strike, the car was stuck in a traffic jam just north of Gaza City, near the Jebaliya refugee camp.

Resident Shadi Tayan, who owns a bookstore in the area, said that "the people in the car jumped out and ran in two different directions" after one rocket hit near the front of the car. After the men fled, two more missiles hit.

Three men were in the car, including Wael Ekalan of the Hamas military wing, witnesses said. The attack killed bystander Hassan Hamlawi, 65, who was sitting on the pavement outside his water pipe shop when the missiles hit nearby. At least 26 bystanders were wounded, doctors said. Among those hurt were four children, including an eight-year-old boy who was in critical condition, doctors said.

Just minutes earlier, an Israeli gunboat fired two shells toward northern Gaza City, hitting an empty plot of land. It was the third Israeli missile strike in five days.

Earlier, Israeli undercover forces snatched two wounded Palestinian gunmen from their West Bank hospital beds in a pre-dawn raid, the latest Israeli military operation in the wake of a deadly bus bombing a week ago.

Also yesterday, Muslim-Jewish friction intensified at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem. Police arrested three Islamic officials after Muslim worshippers scuffled with police officers escorting Jewish visitors.

In September 2000, riots erupted at the shrine following a visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon. The unrest escalated into three years of fighting. After Mr Sharon's visit, the site holy to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif and Jews as the Temple Mount was closed to visitors.

Police reopened it last week, with the initial acquiescence of the Islamic Trust, which administers the site.

The truce collapsed last Thursday after Israel killed a top-ranking Hamas political leader in retaliation for a Jerusalem bus bombing a week ago in which 21 people were killed.

Since the bombing, Israel has killed two senior Hamas members and another five activists in the group in pinpoint missile strikes.