Rafah: Israelis attack: 20 Pal dead. at least 42 wounded
Excite News: "Israeli Troops Kill 20 in Gaza Camp Raid | May 18, 11:55 PM (ET) | By KEVIN FRAYER

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Under heavy cover fire from helicopters, Israeli troops combed this refugee camp for weapons and gunmen Tuesday in the biggest Gaza offensive in years. Twenty Palestinians were killed, including two teenagers shot as they gathered laundry.

The death toll was the highest one-day total since 35 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank city in Ramallah on April 5, 2002.

International condemnation mounted against the operation, and the United States said it was asking Israel for "clarification." The United Nations and European Union demanded an end to the incursion, which Israeli security officials said would last at least a week.
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Residents said at least nine civilians were among the dead. At least 42 Palestinians were wounded.
- posted by Editor @ 8:27 PM

Officer Says Army Tried to Curb Red Cross Visits to Prison in Iraq ... report routed around camp commander [plausible deniability?]
The New York Times > Washington > Officer Says Army Tried to Curb Red Cross Visits to Prison in Iraq: "By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT | Published: May 19, 2004

WASHINGTON, May 18 — Army officials in Iraq responded late last year to a Red Cross report of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison by trying to curtail the international agency's spot inspections of the prison, a senior Army officer who served in Iraq said Tuesday.

After the International Committee of the Red Cross observed abuses in one cellblock on two unannounced inspections in October and complained in writing on Nov. 6, the military responded that inspectors should make appointments before visiting the cellblock. That area was the site of the worst abuses.

The Red Cross report in November was the earliest formal evidence known to have been presented to the military's headquarters in Baghdad before January, when photographs of the abuses came to the attention of criminal investigators and prompted a broad investigation. But the senior Army officer said the military did not start any criminal investigation before it replied to the Red Cross on Dec. 24.
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General Karpinski said she did not see the Red Cross complaint until late November, and questioned how the staff judge advocate for General Sanchez, and his team of lawyers, had dealt with the matter. "It was an unusual routing because they had possession of it before I knew the letter existed," she said of the Red Cross complaint. ...
- posted by Editor @ 8:22 PM

Rafah , Gaza: 33 Pal dead in last few days: UN passes resolution
Excite - News: "Israel Vows No Let-Up in Gaza, 33 Palestinians Die | May 19, 6:12 pm ET | By Nidal al-Mughrabi

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israeli troops pushed further into the besieged Rafah refugee camp on Thursday despite international outrage at its killing of 33 Palestinians, many of them peaceful protestors, in the bloodiest Gaza raid in years.

The U.N. Security Council, convened at the behest of Arabs incensed at what they called Israel's "war crime" in Rafah, passed a resolution urging Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes.

Unusually, Washington did not use its veto to block the U.N. resolution, abstaining from the vote, and President Bush urged restraint from Israel.

But Israel, whose forces stormed Rafah after seven soldiers were killed by local militants last week, was undeterred. ...
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Bush urged restraint on Israel and, in rare criticism of a key ally, added: "It is essential people respect innocent life in order for us to achieve peace."
- posted by Editor @ 3:53 PM

Rafah: Israeli missile strikes: 7 Pal dead, 24 wounded
Excite News: "Israeli Missile Strike Kills 7 in Gaza | May 17, 10:47 PM (ET) | By TAMER ZIARA

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli tanks cut off the Rafah refugee camp from the rest of Gaza Monday, sending panicked residents fleeing amid fears of a major military operation. Helicopters fired missiles at the camp hours later, killing at least seven people and wounding two dozen, residents said.

Early Tuesday, Palestinians said Israeli tanks and troops began digging a trench to separate one quarter of the camp from the rest. Soldiers, backed by dozens of military vehicles, searched house to house.

Israel wants to widen a military patrol road between Rafah and the Egyptian border after Palestinians blew up an armored vehicle there last week, killing five soldiers assigned to destroy arms-smuggling tunnels."
- posted by Editor @ 7:53 PM

Israel-Palestine: back-to-back incidents: 11 Israeli Soldiers dead: 20 Palestinians in 2 days
Five Israeli Soldiers Killed In a Second Attack in Gaza (washingtonpost.com): "Another Vehicle Targeted; 20 Palestinians Perish in 2 Days | By John Ward Anderson | Washington Post Foreign Service | Thursday, May 13, 2004; Page A24

JERUSALEM, May 13 -- For the second time in as many days, Palestinian fighters blew up an Israeli armored personnel carrier in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, demolishing the vehicle and killing at least five Israeli soldiers, the Israeli military said Thursday morning. "
- posted by Editor @ 8:07 PM

Zeitoun, Gaza: IDF raid: 2 Pal dead
Excite News: "Israeli Forces Enter Gaza; 2 Gunmen Killed | May 10, 11:19 PM (ET) | By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli forces entered Gaza City early Tuesday and exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen, killing two, in an operation the Israelis said was aimed at the 'terrorist infrastructure' in the city.

Six Israeli tanks and 10 jeeps entered the Zeitoun neighborhood, the residents said. Soldiers took up positions on the roofs of three houses, surrounding one of them, and traded gunfire with armed Palestinians.

Before daybreak an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a group of men, killing one and wounding nine, three critically, witnesses and doctors said. In earlier exchanges of fire, one Palestinian gunman was killed and nine people were wounded, at least four of them armed, they said."
- posted by Editor @ 9:36 PM