|
Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said 'there was no intent on harming civilians.'
'According to the information we had, there were not supposed to be civilians in his vicinity,' Ben-Eliezer said, 'and we express sorrow at the harm to them.'
'In the past we refrained form targeting Shehade, when we had reliable information of his whereabouts, because of the presence of civilians in his vicinity.'
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat called the attack a 'despicable act.'
'I don't think Sharon had intended by doing this tonight to give the peace process any chance at all,' Erakat said. 'Nothing justifies the targeting and the bombardment of this residential area.'
Sharon asks military to re-examine attack
Even while labeling the airstrike a success, Sharon asked the Israeli military to re-examine the attack.
'I would like the defense minister to review the latest operation carried out ... in which we hit maybe the most senior Hamas member of the military wing -- the one who organized anew, rebuilt the Hamas in Samarea on top of his activity in Gaza,' Sharon said.
Television reports showed scenes of chaos. Wounded were taken on stretchers to hospitals, and bloodied, distraught people walked amid the rubble.
Israeli military sources quoted by the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz said Hamas would make 'every effort' to strike back as thousands demonstrated in Gaza City calling for revenge.
In 1996, Yahya Ayyash, another top Hamas military leader known as 'The Engineer,' was killed in Gaza by a booby-trapped mobile telephone in an attack widely attributed to Israel's Shin Bet security service.
Ayyash's death unleashed four retaliatory suicide bombings by Hamas that killed dozens of Israelis.
|
|