Hamas Leader's Son Among 18 Killed in Israeli-Palestinian Conflicts
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli tanks and helicopters raided Gaza in pursuit of rocket squads Tuesday, killing the son of the territory's most powerful leader and 16 other Palestinians in the bloodiest day of fighting since Islamic Hamas militants overran the coastal area in June.
Palestinian sniper fire across the border killed a 19-year-old volunteer from Ecuador at an Israeli communal farm.
That death and the killing of Hussam Zahar, 24, the militant son of hardline Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, threatened to fuel the violence at a time when Israel and moderate Palestinians in the West Bank are trying to move peacemaking into high gear.
At the morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Mahmoud Zahar held his lifeless son's bloodied head in his hands and closed his eyes, then kissed him three times on the forehead and recited verses from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.
Zahar's eldest son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the Hamas leader in 2003. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio that Hussam Zahar, who is survived by a brother and four sisters, wasn't targeted by Israeli forces.
Mahmoud Zahar is widely viewed as the mastermind of Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza, in which the Islamic group's vastly outnumbered fighters routed rival Fatah forces.
Hamas, he vowed, will respond to Tuesday's raid "in the appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,322785,00.html
I'm sure the Israelis are shaking in their collective boots......
Team Sergeant
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