The Israeli army steps up its barbarous butchering at defenceless Palestinians in Gaza, reports Khaled Amayreh The Israeli army has embarked on a vicious punitive bombardment in Gaza. The clampdown in Gaza is ostensibly in retaliation for the death of two Israeli settler children in a Hamas missile attack on the settler town of Sderot on 30 August. The harshness of the present campaign has been compared to the Jenin 2002 Refugee camp massacre when Israeli forces killed scores of Palestinian civilians and demolished hundreds of Palestinian houses. More than 80 Palestinians were killed and some 300 injured in the ongoing rampage in Gaza -- the vast bulk of them innocent civilians, including at least 20 children. Palestinian officials and eyewitnesses denied Israeli claims that Israeli occupation forces are not deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians in the present onslaught. "The number of civilian victims exceeds by far the number of resistance fighters killed. As for the injured, I can say that 99 per cent of them are innocent men, women and children," said Eissa Dhaher, Deputy Mayor of Jabalya. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Dhaher accused the Israeli army of "knowingly and deliberately" targeting civilians, particularly children." He added that "an army that is equipped with state-of-the art technology can easily distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. An army that can strike at and assassinate a person driving in a small vehicle traveling through a crowded street can easily distinguish between children and women on the one hand and hardened resistance fighters on the other." According to Dhaher, the Israeli army killed as many as 35 Palestinian civilians, including some 10 children since the current blitz into northern Gaza began five days ago. Dhaher accused the Israeli army of "behaving like the Gestapo during World War II." "I can say without exaggeration that the Israelis are the Nazis of our time ... People in the West may have problems understanding this ... but truth has to be told and the reality here should be communicated to the outside world." An Israeli army spokesman, Eitan Arusi, pointed out that with the exception of 10 civilians and a 65-year-old man, all Palestinians killed in Gaza were in their 20s and 30s. Israelis see every Palestinian male between 20-40 years as a legitimate target. "I don't know if there are people in Hamas who are not involved in terror. As far as I know all Hamas people ought to be killed," Arusi said. In fact, claims that the occupation army didn't target Palestinian civilians have been disputed, even refuted, by the Israeli human rights organisation, B'tselem. In a report issued on 4 October, the group pointed out that the Israeli army killed at least 31 Palestinian civilians including 19 children. The report also said that Israeli forces completely demolished some 55 houses in the eastern neighbourhoods of the Jabalya refugee camp alone. Another 50 homes were severely damaged according to the report. The wanton demolition of Palestinian homes has been an established punitive Israeli policy in dealing with the Palestinians, especially since the outbreak of the Intifada. Palestinian sources say that the Israelis destroyed nearly 8,000 Palestinian houses in the past four years. It is also believe that as many 70,000 houses were partially but badly damaged during the same period. B'tselem also pointed out that as many as 50,000 Palestinians at the Jabalya refugee camp were under complete siege and that water and electricity supplies had been cut off and food stocks were running out. The harsh collective punishment meted out against the innocent civilians is apparently meant to prompt them to rise up against the resistance groups, particularly Hamas. However, so far there have been no examples suggesting that Palestinians anywhere are about to turn against the resistance if only not to give Israel the satisfaction of seeing her policy vindicated. In the meantime, Israel highlighted apparently baseless accusations that Palestinian fighters used an UNRWA car to move Qassam missiles. Israel said it possessed an aerial photograph to corroborate the claim. The photograph was shown on TV screens in North America and parts of Europe. However, UNRWA Commissioner-General in Gaza Peter Hansen strongly denied Israeli claims, pointing out that Israel mistook a medical stretcher for a Qassam missile. UNRWA later requested that Israel issue an apology. But instead, the Israeli ambassador at the UN demanded that Hansen be fired, ostensibly for criticising Israeli army brutality in Gaza and disputing Israeli army accounts of what was taking place in the Jabalya refugee camp. Earlier, an Israeli army official in Gaza admitted that Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a "group of people" in retaliation for the ambush of an Israeli bulldozer. The high-ranking officer told the Israeli radio, Reshet Bet, that "we are sorry that these civilians were killed." One Israeli Knesset member proposed in a radio interview aired on Sunday that Israel issue an ultimatum to all Gaza inhabitants to leave their homes and towns after which the Israeli army would annihilate the entire area. "Suppose a volcano erupted in Gaza ... wouldn't they flee for a few days ... let them think of us as a volcano," said Likud MP Yehuda Yatom. Yatom was barred by an Israeli court from assuming any security post after he was convicted of murdering two Palestinians in detention nearly 20 years ago. The Israeli government claims that the aim of the punitive measures against the civilian population in Gaza is to stop the firing of the primitive home-made Qassam rockets on Israeli settlements. However, several Israeli commentators have suggested that the real aim is to kill and maim as many Palestinians and destroy as many Palestinian houses as possible. This, Israeli officials, including Irsaeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, believe would give Israel an image of invincibility and pave the way for the implementation of the "disengagement plan" form a position of strength. For its part, the Palestinian Authority has asked the Arab League to request an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council. However, Israeli officials say that the US will veto any resolution condemning Israel.
