State Of Emergency Declared In Gaza
By Mustafa el-Sawwaf
03 October, 2004
Palestine Chronicle
GAZA CITY - The
incessant Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip claimed nine more Palestinian
victims on Saturday, October 2, as the Palestinian government declared
a state of emergency and appealed for immediate international intervention
and help.
Four Palestinians
were killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike on the Jabaliya
refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip in the small hours of Saturday.
The Israeli raid
initially claimed the lives of Fathi Abdel Raheem Afana, 37, and Ibrahim
Hamdan, said Dr. Muawya Hassanein, director of the emergency department
at the Palestinian health ministry.
He added that Waheed
Talal Abdel Rahman, 21, and Eid Mohammad Afana, 41, later died of their
injuries.
Meanwhile, Palestinian
security sources said a Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire early
Saturday at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
Mohammed al-Hashash,
63, died near his home during an Israeli incursion, they added.
Separately, Israeli
forces gunned down Saturday four Palestinian fighters who attempted
to cross into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The four managed
to make their way several hundred meters past the Karni crossing between
Gaza and Israel, said the Israeli army.
The new fatalities
take to at least 54 the number of Palestinian victims of the new Israeli
military operation in the Gaza Strip, unleashed on Tuesday night.
They also bring
to 4,408 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian
Intifada on September 28, 2000, including 3,385 Palestinians and 953
Israelis, according to an AFP tally.
In a related development,
the Palestinian government declared a state of emergency in the Palestinian
territories and urged the quartet, sponsor of the moribund roadmap peace
plan, to "intervene immediately to ensure the protection of our
people."
It also denounced
"world silence in the face of the magnitude of crimes committed".
Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat appealed to the international community to swiftly put
a stop to the "criminal and racist" Israeli military campaign
underway in the Gaza Strip.
"I call on
the entire world to act immediately and rapidly to stop the criminal
and racist" attacks, Arafat told journalists outside his headquarters
here after an emergency cabinet session.
In its state of
emergency decree, the Palestinian cabinet ordered ministries and public
institutions to concentrate their efforts on providing assistance to
the people of Gaza.
It further called
on international humanitarian organizations to provide aid to people
in the Gaza Strip, notably in the Jabaliya refugee camp, which bore
the brunt of the Israeli aggression.
Prime Minister Ahmed
Qorei had cancelled a trip to Russia and Turkey to attend the cabinet
emergency meeting.
Dozens of Palestinians
were killed by Israeli occupation forces carrying out a massive sweep
into the northern Gaza Strip.