Rest in peace Mr. Khaled Salah and Muhammad Salah

[Klaus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/international/middleeast/07mide.html?th

JERUSALEM, July 6 - The Israeli military shot dead six Palestinians, and an Israeli officer was also killed during two clashes on Tuesday, one in the West Bank, the other in the Gaza Strip.

...

The shootout also claimed the lives of two residents of the building: Khaled Salah, who was in his 50's and taught in the engineering department at An Najah National University in Nablus, and his 16-year-old son, Muhammad.

Dr. Salah's daughter, Diana, 23, told The Associated Press that the family took cover during the intense shooting. She said her father and brother were each hit by a single bullet after the shooting died down and the army called on residents to come out of the building.

Major Feingold said the military did not know the exact circumstances, but regretted the deaths.

Dr. Salah received a doctorate in engineering from the University of California, Davis, in 1985, and was an American green card holder, according to An Najah National University and the United States Consulate in East Jerusalem.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Tragic to be sure but where does it mention who the 4 other Palestinians were?

There were 2 terrorists holed up inside the building (One of whom was Yamen Faraj the Area Commander for Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades and the other was his Lieutenant Amjad Arar) that building was encircled by Israeli Commados and was then fired at with rockets from a helicopter. The 2 terrorists inside the building were armed and there were innocent people kiled, they were essentially human shields for the terrorists as are most innocent people killed in the occupied territories and are as much victims of Palestinian Terrorism as those killed in any suicide bombing.

Then you had a seperate incident where 2 armed Palestinians were shot while trying to attack an IDF position in S-Gaza. These are not innocent people they fight and kill innocent civilians and they die because of this. I think that it is a very sad thing when innocent people die no matter where they are from or who they are but make no mistake, there is a difference between having someone die in a firefight and murdering them, by taking out the terrorists how many lives both Palestinian and Israeli have been saved?

Everybody killed here is a victim of terrorism, as long as terrorist groups operate within Palestinian residential areas then people will be killed and the responsibility rests solely on the PA for not doing more to remove terrorists from Palestinian controlled areas.

Rest in Peace Captain Moran Vardi, his sacrifice ensures that a peace with justice and stability is a little bit closer.

 

[Klaus]

this thread was intended to salute two of the many innocent victim of this useless and stupid murder in palestine.

Seems you didn't follow the posted link:

Of the Palestinians killed, four were militants, but the military also acknowledged the deaths
...
The Israelis shot dead one of the wanted Palestinians, who was taking cover in a shed, but the second escaped to a nearby apartment building
...
An Israeli helicopter unleashed a missile at the gunman, but he continued to return fire until he was killed by ground troops.
...
The two dead gunmen belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, she said.

I just had to remember the lady who protested peacefully against demolitions of homes and which was bulldozed to death by the israeli army (you can search for an older thread of FYM.

I didn't salute to Captain Moran Vardi in this thread because i think it's the job of a soldier to give away his life for his country.
So also his dead is tragic, it's part of his job.
And it's definetly not part of the job of a Professor to give away his and his sons life.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Rachel Corrie of the International Solidarity Movement was a total imbecile pro-terrorist pawn used by the Palestinians in a shameful way, she does not deserve to be honoured in any way shape or form, I personally think that she deserves a Darwin Award which kinda puts a hole in my logic track but still, I think that here death was a bad thing but I certainly think that she was responsible for her own death.

I just wanted to put a context there for the event, a firefight between terrorists and soldiers where a missile is used is a situation where civilian deaths are possible and regrettable. Also little thing, dont post NYT articles because they have the whole registration crap, just go via news.google.com and find a link for another source.

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:
I added the link for the context since the mods don't like big quotes i decided just to quote the things i wanted to focus.

I prefer the NYTimes and the BBC because their authors write in a less biased way also they are not always successful with their approach.

I personally think that she deserves a Darwin Award which kinda puts a hole in my logic track but still, I think that here death was a bad thing but I certainly think that she was responsible for her own death.

Do you think that the beheaded men in iraq also deserve the darwin award because they knew the danger when they went to iraq?

 

[A_Wanderer]

This was a double post, Corrie not an innocent bystander, you have to be pretty dumb to stand by as a house is demolished and if a piece of rubble falls on you then I think its your own fault.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Corrie was not what I would call an innocent victim here, she was standing in front of a bulldozer out of sight and a piece of rubble fell on her, she was not simply run over by the IDF on purpose it was an "accident" in that it was unintentional however Corries own action of placing herself in such a dangerous place (i.e. in the middle of a demolition) makes it more like suicide. This is nothing like poor Nick Berg who had his head sliced by Islamic Terrorists after he was kidnapped, they are two entirely seperate things, one is a case of being a member of the ISM an supposedly nonviolent organization that willingly supports violence perpetrated by Palestinian Terrorists and the other is a man who is Kidnapped against his will and then murdered, seperate things standing around while a house is demolished and having a knife move through your neck.

Just to clarify here is a picture of Rachel Corrie taken prior to her death, I am sure that she was a perfectly moderate peace loving individual who was murdered by those bad Israelis through no fault of her own (that was sarcasm).

 

[deep]

A_Wanderer


that picture is doctored and phoney


you may want to do a search

there was a thread in here awhile back

other members were also mislead by false information.

 

[A_Wanderer]

May I please have some proof that that set of photos (yes there is more than one) are doctored, I went over the "Why two women went to War" forum and I couldn't find where it shows that they are fakes, I am serious, I cannot find evidence that the photos are faked, I searched indymedia sites, googled for it and looked over LGF (which is usually on the money) and they keep posting the pictures. All that I am saying is that it is not a clear cut case of Israel murdering an innocent peace protestor on purpose, there is a certain degree of accountability that you must accept when you choose to play chicken with a bulldozer and I simply don't believe the woman should be canonized for what I would call stupidity.

More to the point, why is it that we don't see forums dedicated to the Palestinians murdered by the terrorists. Jere you have a man who became an enemy of Al Aqsa quite possibly for not cooperating with them and what do they do, they drag him out into the street and execute him with their kalashnikov. The people that kill a man for no good reason in front of a community with press present are not some sort of freedom fighters, they are criminals and they do no good for honest Palestinians or Israelis. I do not like it when people say that they oppose terrorism just like anybody else but then say they also oppose Israeli terrorism citing routine actions by the IDF as somehow morally equivalent to murder. There are a lot of things wrong with Israel and the way that they operate in the region and I have no problem with people pointing those problems out but when people only point out the flaws with Israel and ignore their enemies or downplay the significance of terrorism threatening a liberal democratic state it becomes a one sided anti-semitic (as in anti-Jewish in case anybody was going to point out that Arabs are a Semitic people too) point of view and to say otherwise is totally dishonest. Point out the flaws but dont overlook the reality of what is going on, that is all that I ask.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040702/481/xem10207021903

All those innocent civilians are essentially the living tissue surrounding a tumour and if the terrorists are going to be removed it is an unfortunate fact that there will be civilian deaths, by going out and eliminating terrorists the Israelis are saving lives on both sides and helping the peace process by removing the Islamist influence over the Palestinians opening up political oppertunity for Arafat and the PA.

 

[A_Wanderer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Corrie

even Wikipedia has the photograph there of the event and the neutrality of the article is not disputed. There is an entire discussion of what picture to use and why it was selected when you click on it. I have not seen a single reason to assume that the image is a fake.

How is it that terrorism is fostered by the Palestinians and the western world continues to give them financial support for these actions. It does absolutely no good for anybody, Arab or Israeli to have terrorists attacking innocent people and then have other mostly innocent people be on the recieving end of the inevitable retaliatory millitary incursion.

Here is a site that deals with the figures of the current conflict so that people may understand the casualties of it, who dies, how many people die and who kills them. It can be quite enlightening.

 

[pax]

EDITED TO SAY: I'm not sure if the picture has been proven fake, come to think of it--I think I (and Deep) may be confusing this "fake picture or not?" thread with a different one.

Regardless of your position on Corrie's politics, I find it a little sad that people feel the need to smear a young girl who died unnecessarily.

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:
I remember a picture of our Foreign minister which was floating around in the media last year.
He was beating a cop - obviousley everyone cried "how could he" - "what a radical". A few days later public could find out that emediately before that picture was taken the policeman who was beaten by him was beating his wife.
So a single picture dosn't allways give back the situation in context.
No matter if you show an agressive person or a killed one.

And i don't like the way how you speak about that lady. Of course she's not innocent. It's verry likely that she knew the risks of her actions. So did the mercenaries.

So back to my unanswered question:
"Do you think that the beheaded men in iraq also deserve the darwin award because they knew the danger when they went to iraq?"

Or is she stupid because she died for her ideals instead of money?

Klaus

 

[A_Wanderer]

I think that there is a clear difference between being used by terrorist organizations to protect gun smuggling tunnels which is not some idealistic noble pursuit and then dying in an accident while engaging in dangerous actions near a bulldozer and being kidnapped and executed. I pity her and I think that it is tragic that she is used by the Palestinian terror groups as a usefull idiot but I cannot accept that this is in any way comparable to the death of a civilian contractor in Iraq, he knew the risks yes, he accepted the risks yes, he was murdered and life goes on. With Corrie she accepted the risks and performed a profoundly stupid thing by messing with a Catapiller and she died because of that, then after she dies Israel is roundly criticized by most major organizations full inquirys are launched and the ISM does its best to manipulate it to their advantage, putting a whole Corrie was run down while in clear sight of driver story into the press with matching out of sequence (and date) photographs of the protest.

I think that these Human Shields are very ignorant individuals who are full of idealism that is shamelessly exploited by those who know how to use people. did you ever think about why the Israelis demolish buildings? That some 90 tunnels have been found hidden beneath civilians houses that are used to run guns, missiles and explosives in from Egypt? How the ISM is given locations of where to protest, where to obfuscate the Israelis by people of a less than savoury nature. I am not saying that Corrie herself was a bad person, I am saying that she was strongly misguided and turned from someone who was helping innocent Palestinians to someone who aided terrorists. Her death was an accident that was caused by the lack of clear view by the driver and her recklessness in the incident. Since her death the Israelis have fitted cameras to the bulldozers to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. It is not the same as a murder in Iraq, there is no moral equivalance here, she was not murdered for her ideals she died in an accident that she had a lot to do with.

Her death accident, Nick Berg (who was not a mercenary he was setting up telecommunications in Iraq) was murdered. There is a difference between the two, she died out of her own misguided idealism and gross incompetence when dealing with heavy machinery and he died because a bunch of thuggish Islamists kidnapped him and murdered him. Not the same thing, not in a million years. He didnt die for money, he died because he was murdered by some Islamist thugs, she didnt die for the Palestinians or sacrifice in the name of her ideals she died because she came of second best against a catapiller bulldozer.

PLUS: Those MURDERED in Iraq are not eligable for a Darwin award because their removal from the gene pool is precicely that, Murder.

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:
Not every house in Palestine was bulldozed because of gun smuggling tunnels, you can read about it at various israeli human right groups for example.

But just call it fight against terror and anything goes these days

 

[A_Wanderer]

Do you think that the results of bulldozing houses of bombers and their families and those that house suspected terrorists as well as tunnels has led to the significant drop in suicide attacks over the last year, that the decreace in violence since Israel began unilateral strategies of disengagement and anti-terrorism may actually be because all these methods that the left said would never, ever work against terrorism is actually having a real positive influence and that because of this less people die?

I think the policy is successful and that if the Israeli Government had listened to the weak willed international community we would be seeing more deaths on the streets of Gaza and Tel Aviv and the violence would only be getting worse. It isnt getting, the policy is working when there is a peace are you personally willing to say that your opinion of Israels actions and its side effects may have been unfounded?

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:
I think that some of the professional terrorists moved to Iraq and so Israel isn't affected as it used to be.

But, how do you think Israel and Palestine can ever live together? Do you think that everyone who could be a terrorist will be killed and after that the people of both tribes will live together happily?

By the way there is no solution from "the left" vs. "the right". I remember one of our first "left" chancelors in Germany (and definetly the best one ever) Mr. Helmut Schmidt who didn't negotiate with terrorists (RAF) but decided to try the liberation of the hostages in the airplane. While the conservative party here allways tried to avoid conflicts and rather pay than send troops.

And.. now there is an interesting morale question.
Do you think that a government is allowed to kill innocent people to save others?
If you say yes - even if it was your beloved wife and your son who will be killed?

 

[A_Wanderer]

You must be joking Mr. Klaus, Palestinian terrorists operating within Iraq? I havent seen any evidence for this may you point to it I think it would be rather startling.

We cannot just kill terrorism away, that is ignorant. What can be done is utter destruction of the infrastucture and leadership of the terrorist organizations which prevents them from acting, in addition to a very strong attempt at a political solution with the PA, if a peace is attempted while the terrorist groups still have the strength and potential to launch attacks it is easy for them to derail negotiations but if they are rendered impotent then there is a better chance of political success and once that is achieved all the issues of terrorism will just melt away.

Again I am not saying a government should kill civilians to save others, I am saying that to save civilians you have to conduct millitary operations and these things do lead to civilian deaths. The point here is that fighting terrorism is worth it. Most anti-terrorist operations conducted by the IDF kill or capture terrorists, civilians do get killed and that is a sad fact but remember they are used by the terrorists as protection, they are unwilling human shields who are placed in the firing line by those who use them. I will give you this link to a page of statistics that breaks down the casualties on both sides since the second intafada so that you may see the numbers of people killed, who killed them and how they compare, there are a few surprising figures there.
http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=439


In regards to the personal element about killing innocent people to save others I will not beat around the bush, I would do it. As much as I am loathed to think about it if I was given the oppertunity to shoot down one of the planes on September 11 filled with innocent civilians I would do it and would kill hundreds of innocent people by my own hand, this is the tragic thing about terrorism there is no easy way out, there is no way out that wont result in deaths, no magic wand that makes it all better and we can just go along with our lives in bliss, if you can minimise the suffering by taking lives then it must be taken. These people would have been killed by the terrorists in any event, they are the victims of terrorism even if it is not the terrorist that kills them. There is never a happy ending for terrorists, if my family was on the line and was murdered by my government in a simmilar situation, or if they were walking down the street and were killed by a stray bullet during an arrest then I would be angry, I cannot say that I would justify it in advance, its not like I would have a choice in such a decision I can only console myself with the knowledge that through such death more lives have been saved, ahead by the numbers if you will. Now this sickens me to the pit of my soul, playing it by the numbers because I genuinely wish things were black and white, that we could defend ourselves without loosing a piece of our souls. I look around at the world and I see such virulent hatred, we have men out there who do not seek peace and freedom rather the antithesis, they want opression and violence, chaos, they have nothing to loose and they place us in the position of being between a rock and a hard place. It isn't just the gore that hardens my view of the world, I look at the suffering, to see the pain that terrorists inflict upon the families of innocent people, the sheer hatred that they stir within people who should desire peace, the entire effect of terrorism is this and I know it. As much as I would lie to myself that I could never kill another person its just not true, this is a very tough situation to think about, all that joy and potential wasted in an instant, Stalin said that one death is a tradgedy and a million deaths is a statistic, that entire concept makes me sick, I think of that and I see the death camps of the Nazis, the Gulags and the killing fields, the cultural revolution and all the most evil deeds committed by men, then I try to seperate it from fighting terrorism, make it different because when lives are at stake its a different situation and different rules suddenly apply - again really difficult bloody question - can't rationalise it, cant turn it off or turn it away, I have a strong conviction that we can fight terrorism without becoming monsters, part of doing that is facing up to what we are against and making sure that the resolve is strong, I think that the best way is this, I would never ever murder any innocent human being on purpose. I would be willing in an extreme circumstance where many lives are at risk and there is no other means of prevention take direct action against a threat even if it meant civilians could be killed. If I was on the recieving end of such a policy I would be very very angry and grief would surely change my point of view for better or worse but from where I am now I would think that such actions are justifiable if they spared others from experiencing the suffering that any victim would have.

If I may turn the question back at you, if you had the oppertunity to shoot down the planes on September 11 would you do it? Could your government kill your family to prevent a larger disaster and it still be the right thing to do?

 

[Klaus]

If I may turn the question back at you, if you had the oppertunity to shoot down the planes on September 11 would you do it? Could your government kill your family to prevent a larger disaster and it still be the right thing to do?

That's an excelent question especially if you wouldn't know what we know today (eg that the buildings will colapse).
In that situation you might think that they are "just" regular hijackers who land somewhere - shoot some of the hijacked people etc.
After the first machine crashing into such a building the decision is much easier (and was verry surprised that none of the Airplanes were shot down)

I'm pro shootdown but of curse it's a morale classical tragedy, no matter how you decide it takes a bad end.
I'm against negotiations from the government with hijackers or terrorists (except exchanging hijacked people against volunteers)because i think a government must refuse to be blackmailed or the number of terrorists and hijackers may grow dramaticaly.

So i'm probably less "left" than you think

I have a strong conviction that we can fight terrorism without becoming monsters, part of doing that is facing up to what we are against and making sure that the resolve is strong, I think that the best way is this, I would never ever murder any innocent human being on purpose.

i 100% agree

The resolve has to be strong AND just.
When i see Israeli soldiers hiding behind palestinensian kids (no matter what these kids did before) it simply makes me sick and i'm glad that the Israeli high court forbid this "strategy" and the israeli army isn't allowed to do that anymore.

From my point of view measuring with 2 different scales (we and the enemy) or by accepting violations of human rights for a higher goal we give the terrorists a big field to recuit people because the "evil west" dosn't live up his standards.

 

[Kieran McConville]

What does 'left' even mean? Oh that's right, it means evil.

Sorry, carry on.

 

[Klaus]

Since this thread is allready f***ed up i just add more controversal mid-east news here:

BBC Reported that the ICC ruled against the Israeli government.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague is understood to have decided that Israel's West Bank barrier is illegal and should be removed.

The court has now started reading out its ruling. Leaked reports say it will call on the United Nations to consider what action is required.

Israel insists the barrier is needed to keep out West Bank militants. The Palestinians consider it a land grab

...
Much of the 640km (400-mile) barrier is being built on territory Israel occupied in 1967, rather than along the internationally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank.


The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has gone on for too long and been too bitter for any law to solve the issues
Jim, UK

Israeli barrier: Have your say
Palestinians say the network of walls, fences and ditches is taking away their land and dividing their communities, separating people from schools or workplaces.

They received a boost from the Israeli High Court last week, when it ordered the government to reroute a 40km (25-mile) section of the barrier near Jerusalem.

Israel says the barrier, which it started building in 2002, has already served its stated purpose by preventing suicide bomb attacks against Israelis.

 

[A_Wanderer]

"Im acting astonished"

Was there ever any doubt that the World Court would rule against Israel? Israel is a Jew among nations (kinda Ironic really) and this entire "trial" is really just one more piece of credibility removed from the "international community", at least its non binding because in the real world you can't argue with results, attempted suicide bombings are down 90% which means that Israelis are saved and many Palestinian kids were stopped from blowing themselves up.

I am also going to say that any land grabbed by the Israelis with this fence does not bother me at all, the Palestinian Authority has obfuscated peace deals time and time again, the last major offer was rejected (All of Gaza, 90% of the West Bank as well as limited right of return) and Arafat unleashed the Al Aqsa intafada as the counteroffer, The Arabs will get another state free from foreign interference but for their inaction against terrorism small pieces of land taken by the fence are the price for the forseeable future until all Palestinian Terrorism ceases and the terrorist groups are dismantled.

I don't support expansion of settlements or to retain the post-'67 borders but in the intermediate term I think that the fence is doing a very important job, when there is a solid peace then sections should be dismantled and the minor territory disagreements resolved until that time however the fence is doing its job and s making sure that the security situation does not collapse, every day without a bombing is a day closer to peace.

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:

Did you read the article?

They didn't say that Israel dosn't have the right to build the wall but they have to build it on their territory (Like the GDR Built their Wall on their territory)

edited to add:

Do you think the Israeli High Court is anti-jewish too?

 

[A_Wanderer]

I never said anything about the world court being anti-Jewish, I was using Jew among nations to allude to Israel being a scapegoat in the region just like Jews have been used as scapegoats historically and I find that funny.

The Israeli high court is right and many sections of the fence are needlessly disruptive of Palestinians and these problems must be adressed.

I stand by by statement that the United Nations as an organisation is a corrupt hotbed of dictatorial regimes that is in the pockets of Arab regimes, don't believe me I point to all the resolutions against Israel, the recent World Conferance against Racism in Durban, the fact that half of the emergency sessions of the Security Council have been called when Israel launches an incursion into Palestinian camps, the resolution 3379 "Zionism is Racism", the fact that the Palestinians are given more representation than any other people without land or under direct occupation e.g. Kurds, Tibetans. The world court is an extension of the UN and I would say that its scale is probably tilted.

In regards of the political purpose of this entire excercise I will simply leave it to the Palestinian PM Ahmed Qureia to put it out there.

"The international high court decided clearly today that this racist wall is illegal to the root and Israel should stop building it and take down what has already been built of this wall. We welcome this decision,"

The intent is clear and now we will see a new wave declaring that fence is illegal in principal and that Israel should tear it all down.

This is all a sideshow from the real game, what is happening with Arafat and how long until you get regime change and real reform within the PA. That is when you get progression towards peace and until that happens all we can do is wait and hope that there are no more innocent people killed on both side.

 

[Klaus]

Using anyone as a scapegoat dosn't seem funny to me.
And how can you use Israel as a scapegoat without being anti-israelic?

Basically the ICC said the same than the Israeli High Court said.

When you quote something it could be helpful for the reades to add who made this statement to get the context.
It wasn't an ICC official who called it a "racist wall" but the Palestinensian president.
And the place where this wall is built is no good idea many human rights organisations protested against it because farmers were cut of their fields, children couldn't access their schools anymore etc.

I wonder why Israel didn't build the wall on their ground. But maybe it's easier if you can outlaw any protestor as supporter of terrorism and therfore it's convenient to built it on their territory. But well seems they forgot their own high court and the ICC.

 

[A_Wanderer]

The PA is very experienced when it comes to using international organisations to their advantage, this is another example of it. Now they have a verdict that criticises the route of the fence (only small sections are actually wall) they will milk it for all that it's worth and these stupid games will continue, the PA says Israel is a criminal state and their people recieve aid, their leaders recieve bribes and nothing is achieved. The Israeli government insists for now that the route of the fence is not going to be the route of a new border and when there is a decent peace deal and a Palestinian is created the fence can be dismantled and they can have most of the West Bank (which is what we would have had anyway because there is no way that the Palestinians are getting all of Gaza and all of the West Bank with full right of return, compromise is key).

I used the political quote because that is what this is, a political manuover by the Palestinians to distract world attention away from their defficiencies and the total alienation of Arafat, same basic deal applies with the Iranian nuclear question, they defer blame to Israel to excuse themselves long enough to gain weapons and the international community takes the bait. The "legality" of the West Bank barrier-fence is not the productive area of discussion for peace as it does not prevent there being a Palestinian state it simply ensures that there is better conditions for a peaceful resolution, that being no bombs going off killing innocent people.

 

[Klaus]

A_Wanderer:
It's not important if it's a wall or a regular border - fact is that they built the border on foreign territory and that they didn't care about the civilists who lived in that region (i don't think that the responsible persons were that stupid and didn't know that farmers need access to their land or olive trees take several generations to grow etc.)

I think both sides are excelent when it comes to PR. Every time you criticize the Israeli government many people try to play the "antisemitic card" (most of them to dumb to even know that Palestinensians are also semites)

Again if it was just for the protection i don't see any reason why the border isn't built like israel think it should be built but on THEIR OWN LAND.
Unneccessary and stupid acts like that from Mr. Sharon are verry bad for all Israelis. We can't expect that our enemy cares about international laws as long as we don't do so.

 

[verte76]

I can't tell you how nervous this makes me about my friend in Tel Aviv, especially since I'm no longer able to e-mail her. I hope she is OK.

 

[Klaus]

I hope your friends fine

 

[AcrobatMan]

Human rights groups are the enemy of "future" terrorism victims.

 

[deep]

HANDICAPPED MAN KILLED

A handicapped Palestinian in his 70s was crushed to death when Israeli troops demolished his home in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources have claimed.

Israeli tanks and armoured bulldozers moved into the Gaza Strip to demolish what the army called militant gunposts.

The army said it had removed flimsy shacks and uncompleted structures, but no inhabited buildings in the raid near the town of Khan Younis.

However, Palestinian medics and witnesses said 70-year-old Mahmoud Khala Sallah was inside a building when it was knocked down.