Israel takes bloody revenge

Colin Adamson12 April 2012

Israeli forces today exacted ferocious revenge after a Palestinian gunman went on the rampage killing five young Jewish settlers at an army training school.

A fierce new military offensive, involving gunboats, tanks and air power, left 22 Palestinians dead, including the most senior commander killed so far in 17 months of relentless tit-for-tat raids.

The fresh tide of violence added urgency to a new American peace drive with President George W Bush dispatching Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni to the region to seek a truce.

The shooting of Major-General Ahmed Mefrej, chief of Palestinian National Security Forces in the southern Gaza Strip is being seen as a major blow to the latest peace initiative.

Witnesses said a tank shell and machine gun bullets hit Maj-Gen Mefrej's car, killing him and one of his bodyguards.

Maj-Gen Mefrej, 55, was shot several times in the chest in Khuza'a in southern Gaza after going there to defend the village, colleagues said. He was immediately being hailed as a martyr.

"His martyrdom is a great loss for Palestinians," said Major-General Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh, the Palestinian public security chief in Gaza, accusing the Israeli army of a massacre.

The latest violence erupted late last night when a 19-year-old Palestinian gunman infiltrated Gaza's heavily guarded Atzmona settlement, killing five students in an academy that prepares for them for induction in the army. He was seen lobbing grenades and spraying those inside with automatic gunfire.

More than 20 people were wounded before he was shot dead. The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility. One settler said the gunman began shooting after breaking through a fence.

"He opened fire on the students ... We heard about six explosions from grenades," the settler told Israel Radio. "The place is destroyed."

The reaction from the Israelis was to go in even harder than they have already been this week and the death toll was soon mounting fast.

At least one other member of the Palestinian National Security Forces was among eight Palestinians who were also killed in Khuza'a.

Israeli soldiers went from house to house in an apparent search for militants and arms, as they have in recent raids into refugee camps Israel regards as "bastions of terror".

Four Palestinians were also killed in an attack by Israeli naval gunboats on a Palestinian police station in northern Gaza Strip and two Palestinians were killed in heavy fighting around Bethlehem, hospital officials said.

Troops and tanks backed by helicopters poured from two directions into Bethlehem and entered neighbouring Beit Jala and the nearby Aida and Deheisheh refugee camps.

The army said in a statement today: "The forces took over wide areas [in Bethlehem and Beit Jala]. House-tohouse searches are under way for terrorists, munitions and terrorist infrastructure."

In the West Bank, about 20 Israeli tanks entered the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem early today, sparking clashes with Palestinian militants. Witnesses said Israeli forces had taken up positions on three sides of Bethlehem by this morning.

At least 987 Palestinians and 318 Israelis have now been killed in 17 months of conflict.

Hardliners mock American 'hypocrisy'

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