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Profile: Israeli Air Strike Kills Senior Hamas Leader and More Than a Dozen Others
Morning Edition: July 23, 2002
 Israeli Strike
BBOB EDWARDS, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Bob Edwards.
The militant Palestinian group Hamas is promising revenge after the leader of its military wing was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. More than a dozen others were killed, including several children. Israel blamed the Hamas leader for hundreds of terrorist attacks against Israelis and had him on the government's most wanted list. NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Jerusalem.
JULIE McCARTHY reporting:
Eyewitnesses say that an F-16 warplane fired a missile into the middle of Gaza City in the middle of the night. Television images from the scene show massive destruction in the Gaza neighborhood and the chaos that followed. The Israeli military says the target was Salah Shehadeh, the founder of the military wing of Hamas known as Izzadin Al Qassam. A Hamas spokesman said Shehadeh was killed, along with his wife and three of their children, when the missile struck their home in an apartment complex and leveled several other surrounding buildings. Shehadeh was among Israel's most wanted men and responsible, according to government spokesman Gideon Meir, for masterminding a network of suicide bombers and attacks that have terrorized the Israeli public.
Mr. GIDEON MEIR (Spokesman, Israeli Government): This is a terrorist, somebody who has much Jewish and Israeli blood on his hands. Innocent Israelis are being killed. We must stop this terror on our streets.
McCARTHY: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon congratulated Israeli military leaders for what he hailed as one of the most significant strikes since the start of this latest intifada 22 months ago.
Prime Minister ARIEL SHARON (Israel): (Foreign language spoken)
McCARTHY: `We have no interest in striking civilians,' Sharon said, `but this operation was one of the great successes, and there can be no compromise with terrorists,' he said.
The overnight assault marks a return to the Israeli policy of targeted assassinations. The United Nations condemned this attack as going beyond internationally recognized rules obliging warring parties to safeguard the lives of innocent civilians. Two infants and at least five other children were reported to have died. Senior Foreign Ministry spokesman Daniel Taub was asked why it was necessary to conduct this operation in a densely populated area where the probability of killing civilians was high.
Mr. DANIEL TAUB (Spokesman, Foreign Ministry): There's no country that has found a satisfactory way of dealing with terrorists who do hide behind civilians. It places a democracy in the most difficult dilemma.
McCARTHY: The attack is certain to disrupt delicate diplomacy aimed at getting Palestinian-Israeli relations back on track. The two sides have been trading ideas over how to relieve the tensions and suffering in the West Bank which has been under Israeli reoccupation since June. Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said the attack demonstrated Ariel Sharon's intention to torpedo any chance of reviving the peace process.
Mr. SAEB EREKAT (Palestinian Peace Negotiator): This is a war crime actually and nothing justifies that F-16 bombers go and hit residential areas, nothing under any circumstances. And we all know that bullets will breed bullets, violence will breed violence, hate will bring hate. We don't need this. We had a meeting yesterday. We were meeting with the Israelis yesterday, urging them to give the peace process a chance and now comes this.
McCARTHY: Vowing revenge, senior Hamas official Adbel Aziz al-Rantisi said the Israeli action has guaranteed a new cycle of violence.
Mr. ABDEL AZIZ AL-RANTISI (Senior Hamas Official): I think retaliation is coming and everything will be considered as a target for our resistance.
McCARTHY: Palestinians have taken to the streets in Gaza to protest the attack. Funerals in the coming days promise to be the scenes of more outrage. Julie McCarthy, NPR News, Jerusalem.
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