| נשלח ב-18/4/2004 04:58 |
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חאמאס הויפט ראנטיסי טויט
Hamas leader Rantisi killed in IAF strike in Gaza City
By Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi was killed in an Israeli helicopter missile strike on his car Saturday evening in Gaza City. Two other people - Rantisi's driver and one of his bodyguards - were also killed in the strike.
The White House early Sunday declined to criticize the strike, saying instead that Israel "has the right to defend itself from terrorist attacks" and urging restraint in the region.
Rantisi was one of the Hamas leaders at the top of Israel's target list, after the assassination last month of Hamas founder and leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Hamas on Saturday vowed revenge for the assassination and said it would not be deterred in its struggle to destroy the Jewish state.
"Israel will regret this. Revenge is coming," said a senior Hamas leader at the Gaza hospital where Rantisi was pronounced dead.
"This blood will not be wasted. It is our fate in Hamas and it is our fate as Palestinians to die as martyrs. The battle will not weaken our determination or break our will," Ismail Haniya told reporters.
The missile attack took place a block from Rantisi's house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. The dead were identified as bodyguard Akram Nissar and driver Ahmed El-Rara.
Rantisi's wife was also in the car, but her condition and location was not known, hospital sources and Hamas officials said.
Rantisi was taken to Gaza's Shifa Hospital in critical condition, his body pocked with bloody wounds, and rushed into emergency surgery, but he died five minutes after arriving at the hospital.
About 2,000 angry Palestinians marched through the streets carrying pieces of Rantisi's car shouting, "revenge, revenge." Shooting was heard in the center of Gaza City and people were chanting Rantisi's name.
The attack came several hours after a Border Policeman was killed and three other Israelis were wounded in a suicide bombing at the Erez Crossing in Gaza, which Hamas jointly claimed with the military wing of Fatah.
Rantisi was the newly-appointed head of the militant group in Gaza, following Yassin's assassination. He was one of the most hardline members of the militant movement, which rejects all compromise with Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel had previously tried to kill Rantisi on June 10 last year, when three Apache helicopters fired at least seven missiles toward his car in a crowded Gaza thoroughfare, reducing his vehicle to a scorched heap of metal. Rantisi escaped with a wound to the right leg. Two Palestinian bystanders were killed.
During the mourning period for Yassin, Rantisi was defiant about Israel's threats against him. "We will all die one day. Nothing will change. If by Apache or by cardiac arrest, I prefer Apache," he said.
Thousands of Palestinians poured into the streets of Gaza to protest the assassination and Hamas leaders vowed revenge. "This blood will not be wasted. It is our fate in Hamas and it is our fate as Palestinians to die as martyrs. The battle will not weaken our determination or break our will," Hamas official Ismail Haniya told reporters.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia pointed a finger of blame at the U.S. "The Palestinian cabinet considers this terrorist Israeli campaign is a direct result of American encouragement and the complete bias of the American administration towards the Israeli government," he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said, "Israel... today struck a mastermind of terrorism, with blood on his hands."
"We have to continue this war, every time and every place. And this story with Rantisi shows how the army can get everywhere. We have to continue, we have no other choice," said Cabinet Minister Gideon Ezra.
Rantisi was born in 1947 in the village of Yavna near the southern coastal city of Ashkelon. During the War of Independence his family fled their home and settled in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. Rantisi, who attended school at the refugee camp, had 11 sisters and brothers. After completing his high school studies, he went on to study medicine in Egypt.
Rantisi returned to the Gaza Strip during the 1970s and worked as a pediatrician at the Naser Hospital in Khan Yunis.
The IDF first arrested Rantisi in 1983, for attempting to organize a boycott of tax payments to the Israeli civil administration authorities. He was arrested a second time in 1988, and was jailed for two and a half years for his involvement in Hamas.
Rantisi was placed in administrative detention in 1990, and was included in the 400 Hamas members who were deported to Lebanon in December of 1992.
Upon his return to the Strip, Rantisi was arrested numerous times by the Palestinian Authority. Recent attempts to arrest him were foiled by armed Hamas activists.
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| נשלח ב-18/4/2004 05:04 |
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| נשלח ב-18/4/2004 06:27 |
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Prominent Israeli Assassinations, Attempts
Sat Apr 17, 3:31 PM ET
By The Associated Press
Israel has killed more than 150 militants in targeted raids since fighting broke out in September 2000, according to Palestinian medical officials, though that total includes militants killed resisting arrest. Israel also has had a long history of assassinating those it considered to be terrorists before then.
Here are some of the most prominent strikes:
_April 17, 2004: Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the leader of the Islamic Hamas movement, was killed by an Israeli missile strike on his car in Gaza. Rantisi's son and a bodyguard were also killed.
_March 22, 2004: Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Hamas movement, was killed by an Israeli missile in Gaza.
_March 3, 2004: Three Hamas militants were killed in a missile attack on their car south west of Gaza City.
_Feb. 28, 2004: Three Islamic Jihad militants were killed in an Israeli missile attack in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
_Feb. 7, 2004: Two Palestinians were killed in a missile strike against an Islamic Jihad target in the Gaza Strip, including a 12-year-old boy.
_Dec. 25, 2003: Five Palestinians were killed in a Gaza rocket attack aimed at top Islamic Jihad leader Mekled Hamied. Hameid, two other Jihad militants and two bystanders were killed.
_Oct. 20, 2003: Fourteen Palestinians were killed in Israeli missile strike in Nusseirat refugee camp in Gaza, according to Palestinian count. The number of militants killed remains under dispute. Palestinians said two of the dead belonged to armed groups; Israeli military put the figure higher.
_Sept. 1, 2003: One Hamas member was killed by missile strike, one bystander died later of injuries. At least 25 others were wounded.
_Aug. 30, 2003: Two Palestinians, both members of Hamas, were killed by Israeli strike. Two bystanders were injured.
_Aug. 28, 2003: One Hamas activist was killed by missile strike in southern Gaza. Three others were injured.
_Aug. 26, 2003: Two Palestinian bystanders were killed in helicopter strike in Gaza City. Another bystander died the following week.
_Aug. 24, 2003: Four Palestinians, all Hamas activists, were killed in helicopter strike in Gaza City. More than a dozen bystanders were injured.
_Aug. 21, 2003: Three Hamas members, including prominent leader Ismail Abu Shanab and two bodyguards, were killed by helicopter missile strike. One bystander was killed, at least 15 others wounded.
_June 2003: Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi was wounded in Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
_March 2003: Ibrahim Makadmeh, senior Hamas strategist, was killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
_September 2002: Hamas commander Mohammed Deif was wounded in Israeli airstrike.
_July 2002: Hamas commander Salah Shehadeh was killed with 14 others when Israeli plane drops one-ton bomb on his Gaza house.
_January 2002: Raed Karmi, leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the West Bank, was killed in Israeli attack.
_September 1997: Two Israeli Mossad agents were arrested in Jordan after botched effort to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.
_January 1996: Hamas master bombmaker Yehiyeh Ayyash was killed in explosion of booby-trapped cell phone in Gaza. Israel was assumed responsible.
_October 1995: Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shakaki was killed by gunmen in Malta. Israel was assumed to be responsible but does not comment officially.
_February 1992: Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sheik Abbas Musawi was killed in southern Lebanon in Israeli helicopter strike.
_April 1988: Israeli agents assassinated Khalid al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s deputy in the PLO and commander of operations in West Bank.
_January 1979: Israeli agents killed Ali Hassan Salameh in bomb explosion in Beirut. Salameh planned the 1972 attack in Munich that killed 11 members of Israeli Olympic team.
_February 1973: Israeli commandos enter Beirut by sea and kill three senior PLO leaders. One of the commandos was Ehud Barak (news - web sites), later Israel's prime minister.
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