2009-02-09

Palestinians: Israeli tank shell kills Gaza man

by Ibrahim Barzak


Gaza Ghetto — An Israeli tank shell struck a house Monday in the northern Gaza Strip, killing a 22-year-old man, Palestinian officials said, just hours after Israeli aircraft struck two defensive positions in the territory.

The violence coincided with stepped-up efforts by the two sides to anchor a shaky cease-fire that ended Israel's devastating three-week atrocity.

The Israeli militants said the airstrikes were launched in response to rocket fire from Gaza on Sunday, but had no immediate information on a tank shelling. No injuries were reported in the airstrikes.

The militants did not identify the targets of the aerial attacks. But Palestinian officials said aircraft hit a security compound in southern Gaza that had already been struck three times during Israel's recent Gaza atrocity and a rocket-launching pad in a field in northern Gaza.

Separately, an Israeli gunboat fired a shell in the direction of a Palestinian fishing boat off the northern Gaza coast, Palestinian officials said. The militants said the boat had strayed beyond limits Israel has set for fishermen during their illegal blockade, and that the gunfire was meant as a deterrent.

Palestinian officials said the fishing boat was damaged but no one was injured.

Israel unilaterally ended their devastating, illegal, three-week attack on the prisoners in the Gaza Ghetto, meant to halt years of rocket fire on southern Israeli communities, on Jan. 18. Gaza's democratically elected Hamas rulers announced their own cease-fire the same day.

While Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term cease-fire, Israeli atrocities have persisted.

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