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| Middle East |
| The Difference? Israeli TV shows raid aborted to spare civilians |
| 2003-08-28 |
| So much for moral equivalence JERUSALEM - The Israeli army, under fire for a bungled raid on militants in which a bystander was killed, released footage of a raid last year that was aborted to prevent civilian deaths. The video, screened on public television for the first time on Wednesday, showed the view from an Israeli attack helicopter’s sights during an operation against a carload of militants in the West Bank city of Nablus. As the car entered the city’s built-up area, the pilot was heard calling off the strike because of the presence of ambulances near the target vehicle, in what Israeli military sources insisted was part of standard operating procedure to prevent unintended civilian casualties. On Tuesday evening, Israeli helicopters on a mission to kill two military commanders of the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip missed their target, killing a 65-year-old man and wounding at least 20 others. One of the injured victims died on Wednesday. Mohammad Balusha, 17, was near the vehicle hit by helicopter rocket fire in the Jabalya area, the medics said. The army offered its apologies for the civilian casualties, but insisted that the Palestinian militant groups were ultimately to blame for operating out of heavily populated residential areas. Palestinian sources said at least 200 innocent bystanders had been killed in Israeli assassination attempts against militants since the launch of the intifada in September 2000. -- AFP |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #3 IDF values Palestinian civvies a whole lot more than Hamas does. I think they should work this angle for all they can. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-8-28 9:16:25 PM |
| #2 GregJ gets it, bigtime...can the State dept ever do the same? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-28 7:27:50 PM |
| #1 Palestinian sources said at least 200 Part of the blame does rest with the |
| Posted by: GregJ 2003-8-28 6:53:15 PM |