Posted on 04/08/2003 4:01:50 PM PDT by yonif
Eight people were killed, some of them Hamas terrorists, in an IAF missile strike in Gaza City Tuesday night.
Witnesses said an F-16 warplane fired a missile at a Subaru car in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, turning it into a mass of charred metal.
One of those killed was Said Arabid, 33, from Gaza.
Arabid was one of the top commanders of Hamas' military wing in Gaza, Izzadin al Kassam.
According to the IDF, Arabid led the military operations of Hamas, together with Mohammed Deif, since the early 90's.
The two men were responsible for the planning and execution of scores of attacks against Israelis.
Arabid was directly involved in the attack that led to the death of an Israeli soldier in 1993, and in the bombing of a bus on Tel-Aviv's Dizengoff Street in October 1994 in which 21 Israelis were killed and dozens were injured.
Arabid was directly involved in the kidnap and murder of Corporal Nachshon Waxman. A Golani regiment soldier, Corporal Waxman was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 9th 1994. He was eventually located in a house at the West Bank town of Bir Naballa.
An elite IDF force from Sayeret Matkal stormed the house, but the raid failed: the force's commander, Nir Poraz, was killed in the firefight, and the terrorists managed to kill Waxman before they were shot dead.
Arabid was arrested by the Palestinian Authority in May 1999, but was released at the start of the Intidadah. The IDF says that Arabid was actually recruited to the Palestinian Preventative Security organization, which it says has strong ties with Hamas.
The other known Hamas terrorist killed in Tuesday's action was Ashraf Halabi, 28, of the Shati refugee camp in Gaza. Halabi worked closely with Arabid in Hamas' military wing. Halabi was arrested by Israel in 1994 and the PA in 2000.
The warplanes fired the first missiles, and this was closely followed by a second attack on the car by IAF Apache attack helicopters, reports Israel Radio.
A witness, Yussef Touth, 24, said the white car was approaching an intersection when he saw the two planes, and then "suddenly I saw a big flame in the sky" and the missile hit the car. He was wounded in both legs and lay covered with blood in the hospital. "I saw bodies torn to pieces," he said.
The mangled bodies of the people inside were brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza. The Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City is known as a stronghold of the Hamas.
There are as yet no details of the other occupants of the car.
This was Israel's first air strike in Gaza since the start of the Iraq war.
(With The Associated Press)
Witnesses said an F-16 warplane fired a missile at a Subaru car in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, turning it into a mass of charred metal.
So much for the seven stars and Orion...
I say, mash them all and let the crackers spread them out.
No I thought that was "Whirled Peas"....
Tonight , though, hopefully he is dining with Saddam Hussein... Last night, for dessert in an Al Monsour Restaurant, Saddam enjoyed the "Bombe Surprise"
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