From the Los Angeles Times
WARFARE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Israel to Hit Gaza Homes Hiding Arms
From Times Wire Services
July 21, 2006
GAZA CITY — Israel killed three Palestinians and wounded 12 Thursday in
the Gaza Strip, and it dropped leaflets warning residents that homes
believed to contain militant weapons would be attacked.
An airstrike killed one militant preparing to launch an anti-tank
rocket at Israeli troops in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central
Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said. Troops also killed two gunmen in
the camp, witnesses and medics said.
A 10-year-old girl also died of wounds suffered in an airstrike a day
earlier, doctors said.
Troops began pulling out of the refugee camp early today.
Israel also kept up the pressure from the sea, shelling a key coastal
road used by emergency vehicles and others.
The army has adopted a new policy of attacking homes in civilian areas
where weapons — such as the homemade rockets frequently fired into
Israel — are secretly stored, military officials told the Associated
Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Arabic-language leaflets dropped over Gaza City warned that "anyone
who has, or is keeping an arsenal, ammunitions or weapons in their
house must destroy it or they will face dangerous consequences."
Israel started its Gaza offensive last month after Palestinian
militants abducted Cpl. Gilad Shalit. At least 110 Palestinians, about
half of them militants, have died in the fighting.
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
