Thick with the smell of burnt gunpowder, Beit Hanoun in the
northern Gaza Strip was reduced to ruins after a bloody six-day
Israeli assault on the coastal town.
Early on Wednesday, Israeli artillery shells killed 19
Palestinian civilians there, including 13 members of one
family.
The shelling came 24 hours after Israel announced the end of
"Operation Autumn Clouds" in the town, which had already claimed
the lives of more than 50 Palestinian militants and civilians.
"It was like a tsunami hitting Beit Hanoun," 41-year-old police
officer Ahmed Sehwail told Xinhua, adding: "Devastation everywhere,
Beit Hanoun was turned from paradise into broken remains."
Sehwail said the town was famous for its citrus groves but after
six years of intifada (uprising), little of that has survived.
Abu Samir al-Basuni, a 54-year-old Beit Hanoun resident, said
that more than 50 houses were razed and they (the Israelis) also
ruined parts of a cemetery.
Beit Hanoun, with a population of 40,000, started out as a small
agricultural village. It is the nearest town to the border between
the Gaza Strip and Israel.
"It is true Israel does not want security, peace and stability,"
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said at a news conference in
Gaza City following the Israeli attack, adding that "it seems that
(Israel) wishes the situation to deteriorate."
Abbas visited Beit Hanoun on Wednesday with his Prime Minister
Ismail Haneya, who has suspended talks over forming a new coalition
government for the time being until the end of a three-day official
mourning period.
Abbas called for boosting efforts towards forming a unified
government "to respond to Israel which doesn't like to see the
Palestinians united."
"Whenever we get close to internal deals, we find more
massacres," Abbas concluded.
Following the incident, the Israeli government on Wednesday
expressed regret over the deaths of the Palestinians in the Israeli
artillery strike.
Israel said the operation was aimed at preventing Palestinian
militants from firing homemade rockets into southern Israel but it
seemed that the goal was not achieved as dozens of rockets were
launched at Israeli towns and communities.
Ahmed al-Kafarna, a student, said that rocket attacks would
continue even if Beit Hanoun is decimated by Israel. "We launch
rockets to respond to Israeli crimes. It is a matter of action and
reaction and they (the Israelis) began with this circle."
Large tents were set up and hundreds of mourners gathered to
grieve but they did not show any regret over rocket attacks against
Israel.
Many people expressed support to rocket attacks, shouting: "We
support Hamas!"
In addition, senior Hamas official Nizar Rayyan in the Gaza
Strip called for an immediate renewal of suicide bomb attacks in
Israel in revenge.
Also on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan voiced his
shock and dismay at Israel's attacks.
He reminded both sides of their obligations under international
humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilians in armed
conflict.
Annan reiterated his call to the Israeli government to cease its
military operations in Gaza without delay and called on the
Palestinian side to also halt attacks against Israeli targets.
He further took note of the reported announcement by the Israeli
Government of a full investigation into this latest incident and
looked forward to its early results.
Meanwhile, at the request of Palestinian authorities, the UN
Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to
discuss the mounting bloodshed in the Gaza Strip.
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2006)
