- An Israeli occupation forces vehicle was hit by an explosion
in the southern Gaza Strip Wednesday, killing all of the Israelis inside.
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- The occupation forces said the vehicle was patrolling
an Israeli-controlled road on the border when the bomb went off. The road
runs along the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, scene of almost daily
battles. Israel repeatedly targets Rafah, trying to destroy weapons smuggling
tunnels.
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- It was the second such bombing in two days. On Tuesday,
six Israeli soldiers were killed when their armored personnel carrier was
shredded by a roadside bomb in Gaza City.
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- After the attack, Palestinian fighters displayed soldiers'
body parts, including a head, for TV cameras.
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- On Wednesday, Israeli occupation fired missiles, demolished
buildings and burst into homes in a densely populated Gaza City neighborhood
to try to recover the soldiers' bodies.
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- The PalestinianIslamic group Jihad said Wednesday it
reached agreement with Israel on the return of the remains. The Israeli
occupation forces had no immediate comment on the deal, but the government
has said it would not negotiate.
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- Five Palestinians were killed, including three fighters,
and 43 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in Wednesday's fighting,
the biggest Israeli offensive into Gaza in years. No Israeli casualties
were reported.
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- By midafternoon, the army was in control of a 2-square-mile
area and was within 400 yards of the center of Gaza City, Palestinians
said.
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- Dozens of armored vehicles patrolled deserted streets,
snipers took up positions on rooftops and Apache helicopters hovered overhead,
firing occasional bursts of gunfire.
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- Israel had promised a harsh reprisal following Tuesday's
attack.
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- The Palestinian Authority, along with Egypt, urged Hamas
and Islamic Jihad groups to return the remains. Defiant fighters said there
would be no release until Israel pulled its troops out of the area.
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- Simon Schorno, a spokesman for the International Committee
of the Red Cross, said the group had been acting as an intermediary. He
declined to say whether any progress had been made.
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- fighters, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a
key sticking point was a soldier's head that was displayed Tuesday. Israel
demanded its return, but militants refused.
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- Under the deal, Israel would pull its troops out of Gaza
City and return bodies of Palestinian fighters in exchange for the body
parts, Islamic Jihad spokesman Khadeer Habib said.
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- Israel has said it would not negotiate with the fighters
and vowed to continue its operation until it recovers the bodies.
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- "Anyone who desecrates (the bodies of) soldiers,
we shall catch them, and our settling of accounts with them will be bitter
and precise," Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Channel 10
TV.
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- Israel is known for going to great lengths to recover
the bodies of fallen soldiers, both because Jewish law requires the body
to be buried intact and the army fears militants will try to use the remains
as bargaining chips.
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- Israel has carried out a number of lopsided prisoner
deals. Most recently, it exchanged hundreds of Arab prisoners in January
for the remains of three soldiers and a captured businessman.
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- After an overnight lull, the heavily armed Israeli forces,
backed by tanks and combat helicopters, resumed their searches for body
parts shortly after daybreak Wednesday.
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- Gun battles erupted. Soldiers confined tens of thousands
of residents in the densely populated Zeitoun neighborhood ? scene of Tuesday's
explosion ? to their homes.
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- Israeli helicopters fired two missiles during the fighting.
One hit a building, wounding nine people. The second hit a crowd of people
gathered outside a mosque, killing three Hamas members and wounding 28
others, mostly civilians. Two girls were among the wounded. The army said
both attacks were aimed at fighters planting bombs.
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- The occupation forces also said it killed a man who tried
to fire an anti-tank missile. Palestinians said a 35-year-old falafel salesman
died after being hit by an Israeli bullet. The army had no immediate comment.
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- Throughout the day, soldiers stormed dozens of shops
and garages, scouring rooftops and balconies for body parts.
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- Huge bulldozers flattened agricultural land, uprooted
trees, crushed cars and destroyed parts of the main road and water pipes.
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- Dozens of Palestinian youths crowded Zeitoun's dusty
streets as ambulances whizzed by and black smoke billowed into the air.
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- At one point, a bearded militant in a flak jacket stumbled
out of a smoky alleyway with a head wound.
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- The occupation forces also told Palestinian officials
that it had shut down Gaza's border crossings into Egypt and Israel and
barred Palestinian fishermen from going to sea.
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- An Israeli gunboat fired a shell into a sparsely populated
Gaza City neighborhood near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's abandoned
Gaza headquarters, Palestinian witnesses said, causing neither injuries
nor damage.
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- In fighting Tuesday, at least eight Palestinians were
killed. Palestinian residents said another person was killed Tuesday and
buried under rubble, but the report could not be independently confirmed.
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- Saed Abdullah, a 45-year-old father of six who lives
near the site of Tuesday's explosion, said he and his children had spent
hours hiding under beds as bullets penetrated the house, shattering windows
and destroying furniture.
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- Soldiers stormed the house, locking the family into a
room for more than five hours, Abdullah said. Then they used him and two
other neighbors as "human shields" while they searched the neighborhood,
he added.
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- Hamas claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb. Two
other Islamic groups, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades ? linked to Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement ? and Islamic Jihad, also said they
had some of the remains.
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- Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the Palestinian
Authority was "exerting every possible effort" to return the
body parts to Israel.
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- The six soldiers' deaths ? the most killed in a single
army operation since November 2002 ? renewed debate in Israel over Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's proposal to withdraw from Gaza. The area is home
to 7,500 Jewish settlers and some 1.3 million Palestinians.
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- http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=1892
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