7 Palestinians Massacred in Beit Hanoon by Israeli Occupation Terrorist Forces, Including a Mother and Four Children from Abu Mu'aiteeq Family

IOFs kill 7 Palestinians including a mother and her children

[ 28/04/2008 - 08:29 AM ] The four siblings killed in Beit Hanoun on Monday

BEIT HANUN, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation terrorist forces (IOTF) on Monday killed seven Palestinians including a mother and her one-year-old baby while ten others were wounded when an IOF tank shell blasted their home in northern Gaza.

Witnesses told PIC reporter that the IOF artillery shelled the house of Abu Mu'aiteeq family in Beit Hanun town completely destroying it and killing the mother and her four children Musab, 1, Hana, 3, Saleh, 4, and Rudaina, 6.

They said that the shelling also killed the 17-year-old boy Ayoub Attalla and Ibrahim Hajuj of the Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement.

Citizens appealed to all those having vehicles with petrol to head to the scene of the IOF crime in order to evacuate the victims due to the acute shortage of fuel supplies in the Strip, which were blocked by the Israeli occupation authority and which paralyzed all aspects of life.

Representatives of Palestinian resistance factions head on Monday to Cairo to discuss calm with the IOA.

For its part, the armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing at four IOF soldiers during their incursion in Beit Hanoon on Monday, adding that the "Zionist enemy" acknowledged the injury of two of its soldiers.

The armed wing earlier Sunday claimed responsibility for firing two Qassam missiles at an IOF military base east of Dair Al-Balah in central Gaza and two RPGs and a number of mortar shells at IOF armored vehicles and a bulldozer that was advancing in Palestinian lands in the same area.

Israeli tanks kill seven Palestinians, including mother and four young children, in Beit Hanoon

Date: 28 / 04 / 2008 Time: 09:19
Gaza – Ma'an –

Seven Palestinians were killed, including a mother and her four young children, and at least seven others were injured when Israeli tanks shelled a house in the town of Beit Hanoon in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, witnesses and medics said.

Palestinian medics identified the mother, Khadra Abu Mu'aiteeq, and her children Ahmad Abu Ma'atouq, three-year-old Hana Abu Ma'atouq, four-year-old Saleh Abu Mu'aiteeq, and six-year-old Rudayna Abu Mu'aiteeq, medics reported.

The family was inside the house, eating breakfast at the time of the shelling.

A student, 17-year-old Ayoub Atallah, was killed on his way to school. His friend Mu'atassem Suwailem was injured.

The sixth Palestinian killed was a member of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, named Ibrahim Al-Hujouj. He was also identified by medical sources.

Mu'awiya Hassanain, the Gaza-based director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, confirmed that the deaths took place after Israeli forces fired on the Abu Mu'aiteeq family home in Beit Hanoon.

Witnesses reported that Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded Beit Hanoon early on Monday morning and began firing on residential houses.

On Sunday night Israeli forces raided the town of Dair Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, seized 40 Palestinians, and used bulldozers to destroy agricultural lands, witnesses said. The Israeli forces withdrew at midnight.

***Updated at 10:04 Bethlehem time

Israeli occupation terrorist army kills seven Palestinians, including four toddlers and their mother in northern Gaza

Monday April 28, 2008 10:11 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

An Israeli shell tore through a Palestinian home in the northern Gaza Strip village of Izbit Abed-Rabo, near Beit Hanoon, early Monday morning, killing four siblings under the age of six and their mother. The army also killed one fighter, member of armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, and a 17-year old youth.

This photo is from a similar incident in 2006, in which an entire Palestinian family was killed

Dr.Mu'awiya Abu Hassanain, chief of emergency and ambulance department at Gaza's health ministry, confirmed that the four children and their mother were from the Mu'aiteeq family. The slain children were identified as Ahmed Abu Mu'aiteeq, 1 year old, Hanna, 3, Saleh, 4, Rudaina, 6.

Also, resident Ayoub Atallah, 17, was killed and his friend Mo'atassem Suwailem was seriously injured. Medical sources reported that Ibrahim al-Jahjouah, member of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, was killed as well - the shelling was apparently an extrajudicial assassination targeting him.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad stated that one of its fighters was killed during clashes with troops invading Beit Hanoon.

The Brigades identified the fighter as Ibrahim Al-Hajouj. He was killed during gun clashes with Israeli troops invading Beit Hanoon, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israeli army sources stated that one soldier was shot and wounded in clashes with resistance fighters.

The Israeli policy of extrajudicial assassinations has been largely condemned by the international community, and is a direct violation of international law and signed agreements, as "collateral damage", or civilian casualties, inevitably accompany the assassinations. Nevertheless, Israeli forces continue to carry out targeted assassinations on a nearly-daily basis.

According to local sources, the shelling occurred during an Israeli invasion of Beit Hanoon, during which the military closed all entrances and exits, and imposed a full lockdown on the area.

This attack comes several hours before representatives of various Palestinian factions were set to hold talks in Cairo on the possibility of a truce with Israel. The various armed Palestinian groups had expressed willingness to engage in a ceasefire with Israel, and an offer was put forward last week by the ruling Hamas party, but the offer was rejected outright by the Israeli government.

Israeli tanks kill five Palestinians including four children of one family

Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies, Monday April 28, 2008 10:01

The Israeli occupation army tanks killed on Monday morning five Palestinian residents including four children of one family in the northern Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoon.

Dr. Mu'awiya Abu Hassanain, chief of emergency and ambulance department at Gaza's health ministry, confirmed the death of five residents and injury of 7 others, after the house of Abu Mu'aiteeq family was shelled by the Israeli tanks.

Those children were identified as Saleh Ahmad Abu Mo'ataq, 4, Hana' Ahmad Abu Mu'aiteeq, 6, Rudaina Ahmad Abu Mu'aiteeq, 7 and Musa'ab Ahmad Abu Mu'aiteeq, 1, while the fifth remained unknown up to writing this report.

In the early hours of morning, the Israeli army forces were reportedly deployed in the outskirts of Beit Hanoon, after incurring into the streets of Al Sultan and the railway amidst sporadic gunfire.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army troops pulled back from the eastern parts of Dair El-Balah city in central Gaza Strip, after thrusting into the area and razing vast areas of arable lands.

Palestinian security sources confirmed that the Israeli army arrested 30 Palestinian residents before it withdrew from Dair Al-Balah.

Rival Palestinian leaders condemn 'massacre' in Beit Hanoon

Date: 28 / 04 / 2008 Time: 12:04
Ramallah – Ma'an –

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he called "Israeli aggression" in the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

Israeli tank fire killed seven Palestinians including a mother and her four young children in Beit Hanoon on Monday morning.

"This assault does not serve the efforts to reach a ceasefire, and it impedes the peace process," Abbas said. He reaffirmed his support for a ceasefire in order to save the Palestinian people from more killing.

In the same regard, the de facto Prime Minister of the Gaza Strip, Isma'il Haniyah, condemned the Israeli attack, calling it a massacre. He said, "This reflects the real face of the Israeli occupiers and their frequent attempts to frustrate any regional or international efforts to end the embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip and to halt hostilities."

"Such criminal acts, those that came before, and those still to come will not break the Palestinian people's will and insistence on their inalienable rights, including freedom and independence," Haniyah said in a statement.

Mustafa Barghouthi, the former Palestinian Minister of Information and the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, called the killings "a sickening tragedy."

"The killing of innocent women and children in their homes is one of the most shocking consequences of the siege and attacks on the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli government is carrying out under the pretext of security," said Barghouthi. "But tell me who is safer now that Khadra Abu Moatiq and her four young children are dead?"

Haniyah's Hamas movement rules the Gaza Strip, while Abbas' Fatah faction holds power in the West Bank. Abbas dismissed Haniyah and a Hamas-Fatah unity government last June after Hamas took control of Gaza.

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