Gaza town shocked and battered by Israeli raid
NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI
Reuters, 4 November 2006
Beit Hanoun, Gaza -- Rasmiya Mahmoud has seen plenty of Israeli raids into the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. But nothing like this.
Dozens of Israeli tanks have encircled the town of 30,000 people since Wednesday. Heavily armed soldiers, trying to stop militant rocket fire at the nearby Jewish state, have fought running battles with militants.
The army has curbed movement, telling people to stay home, and rounded many men up for questioning. It is hard for reporters to move from the outskirts of town to the centre.
On Saturday, however, the army allowed women in Beit Hanoun to go out for two hours to buy food.
"Myself and other women were shocked. It's unbelievable," Mahmoud, a teacher, said by telephone after venturing outside.
"Electricity poles have been uprooted, the road has been torn up. Sewage has flooded into the streets," she added.
More than 30 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed in Beit Hanoun in the past four days, medical officials said. One Israeli soldier has also been killed.
Israel's army has denied suggestions it had seized the town, saying it was under a "general closure".
"Things like humanitarian aid are being allowed in," an army spokesman said.
Mahmoud said she went to the town hospital to re-charge her mobile phone. There, many women and girls were stocking up on drinking water, she said.
One or two Israeli tanks stood guard at every intersection.
Mahmoud, 52, said she could not recall such a heavy raid in Beit Hanoun. Dozens of houses had been partially or severely damaged in the centre of the town, she added.
Israel's army often targets Beit Hanoun since militants use the area to fire rockets across the nearby frontier at Israel.
The current operation is part of a wider offensive that began in late June following the abduction of an Israeli soldier by militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza.
QUESTIONING
At least 4,000 men had been rounded up and escorted to a school near the edge of town for questioning, residents said.
Some had been detained, including three sons of Atef Odwan, minister for refugee affairs in the government run by the Islamist movement Hamas, residents said.
Two of his bodyguards have been killed in clashes in Beit Hanoun, and his house overtaken by Israeli forces.
Israel's army has said it was questioning men in the town and said it expected most would be allowed to return home.
But many of those interrogated had not been allowed back into the town, being forced to go elsewhere in Gaza, residents said. Some had been taken to Israel, residents added.
"Those who were released spoke of humiliation," one resident said, declining to give his name. "They were forced to strip (to their underwear) as they entered the detention camp for questioning."
The army said it was checking the reports.
Residents said many families had been unable to bury their dead. Saeed Jouda, from a hospital in nearby Beit Lahiya town, said nine bodies of people killed from Beit Hanoun were inside the morgue there. He feared they could run out of space.
"If the raid continues and more people are killed, we will have to think of some solution," Jouda told Reuters, adding that agreement from the families would be needed first.
Islamic practice requires that the dead be buried quickly.
Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch