Six killed as Israeli troops fire on Rafah

SIX Palestinians were killed yesterday and more than 50 wounded

The Israeli army said rockets were launched at soldiers who returned fire but that was disputed by Palestinians.

The dead Palestinians included two men, two women and two children, said Dr Ali Musa, head of Rafah Hospital.

Many of the Palestinians were hit by tank fire while inside their homes, the wounded Palestinians said.

The clash erupted when Palestinian militants fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at an armoured bulldozer that was building an embankment to protect Israeli forces, an Israeli officer said, adding that Israeli troops then returned fire with tank shells and machine guns.

“Terrorists in the Rafah area operate amid the civilians,” said Lieutenant Colonel Olivier Rafowicz, an Israeli military spokesman.

The army has a base just a few hundred yards from a Palestinian neighbourhood in Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt.

Palestinians said youths threw stones and bottles at the troops, and that mourners at a nearby Palestinian funeral fired shots into the air. They said they were not aware of any rockets or grenades fired at Israeli troops.

“It did not happen,” said Raouf Barbakh, a Fatah leader, referring to the Israeli charges. “They only want to justify this ugly, brutal massacre against innocent civilians.”

The area is a frequent clash point, and yesterday’s funeral was for a man killed in the same area a day earlier. Israeli troops have bulldozed the homes closest to the base, leaving several hundred yards of no-man’s land between the two sides.

At Rafah Hospital, the emergency room was overflowing.

“I was cooking for my children, when suddenly there was the sound of a tank shelling and there were explosions all around,” said Naifa Abu Jazzer, 40, who was in the hospital’s emergency room, her face and body covered with blood.

“One tank shell hit the house. When I started leaving the house, another tank shell hit it and I was injured,” she said.

Nearby, five children were being treated for wounds.

Rafah is a stronghold for militants and Palestinians also smuggle weapons into Rafah from tunnels that go under the border into Egypt, the Israeli military says.

Israeli troops often come under fire in Rafah, the army says, while Palestinians accuse Israeli soldiers of firing indiscriminately and frequently hitting civilians.