Israel accused of Gaza Strip massacre

Israel was accused of a massacre today after at least 13 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 wounded during a devastating army raid on a Gaza Strip town.

Residents flocked to the hospital in Khan Younis hoping for news of loved ones. But Israeli soldiers sprayed them with long volleys of automatic rifle fire as they waited outside the morgue, killing one man.

The Palestinian leadership described it as a massacre and called on the international community to protect them.

Officials in Europe and Russia were quick to denounce the violence.

“I condemn the acts that have been committed by the Israeli army this morning,” said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, who currently chairs the EU’s foreign ministers’ council.

“I now ask the Palestinians to control their forces of terrorism so that they do not retaliate.”

In Moscow, Foreign Ministry officials said the Israeli action was “clearly disproportionate”.

The attack on Khan Younis began before dawn when soldiers supported by tanks and helicopters swept into the town.

After four hours, troops began to withdraw and residents emerged from their homes to search for their families and inspect the damage.

Then an Israeli helicopter fired a missile into the crowd of people, killing 10. The dead were aged 14 to 52, Palestinian doctors said.

Palestinian officials said all the dead were civilians, while the Israeli army said most were armed men killed in battle.

Wissam Abdeen, who was hit by shrapnel in his arm, said there were no gunmen in the crowd.

“We heard the sound of helicopters,” he said. “Two minutes later, I heard the sound of something coming from the air and I saw the flames. Then a big explosion lifted me and blew me 10 yards away.”

But another witness, Walid Sabah, 44, said gunmen were among those in the street, but did not shoot at the time. Sabah said he was in the crowd with his 17-year-old son, Abdullah, who was killed by the missile.

Abedi Ashour, 24, said he was emerging from his apartment when he heard the explosion.

“People were bleeding, many of them lying on the ground. Women were screaming and blood covered the ground,” he said.

The Israeli army offered a completely different version.

Brigadier General Israel Ziff, the Israeli army commander in the area, said his troops had met heavy resistance from Palestinian gunmen. He said that as troops withdrew, many armed men gathered in the streets.

“They fired a lot and threw grenades. There was a battle there,” Ziff said. “The helicopter aimed at this armed group and hit them.”

Ziff said the battle was filmed from a pilotless plane.

Most of the wounded were taken to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where Israeli troops then opened fire, killing a 27-year-old man and injuring three.

The military said the shots were fired in response to mortar fire, and witnesses said they heard two explosions before the shooting began.

People ran for cover behind trees and walls. Among the injured was a 14-year-old boy hit in the neck and a paramedic hit in the chest.

Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief who is visiting the region, said he was shocked by the number of casualties.

“I think that it is even more dramatic because of the efforts that the Palestinian people were making in order to get out of the way of violence in recent weeks,” he said.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat denounced the raid as a massacre.

“Every time we witness efforts to revive the peace process and put it back on track, like those being exerted now by Solana, the Israeli government moves to conduct such war crimes and murder innocent civilians,” he said.

Palestinian militants vowed to take revenge: “We will make the Zionist enemy swallow the bitter drink very soon,” promised a masked activist, armed with a machine gun and grenades.

Israeli army officials described Khan Younis as a stronghold of the Islamic militant group Hamas and that during the raid troops arrested a wanted man carrying a home-made explosive device.

Israel’s deputy defence minister, Weizman Shiri, said he was sorry if civilians were hurt.

“But what can we do?” he told Israel Army Radio. “It is war.”