250,000 Palestinians Attend Funeral of Those Killed in Israeli Raid

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 24, 2002

250,000 Palestinians Attend Funeral of Those Killed in Israeli Raid

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More than 250,000 angry Palestinians attended on Tuesday the funeral of Sheikh Salah Shehada, leader of the armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and 14 other Palestinians who were killed Monday night in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza City.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered outside the Shiffa Hospital in the western neighborhood of the city, waiting for taking the bodies of the 15 people killed in the overnight Israeli airstrike on a civilian building.

Supporters and militants of the five main Palestinian factions, namely the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad (holy war), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), took part in the funeral procession.

Each group was led by its militants who were all masked and carried all kinds of rifles, hand grenades, anti-tank missiles and mortar shells, with their supporters waving the special flag of their own's factions.

Red, yellow, green and black flags were waved in the funeral, while militants fired thousands of bullets in the air amid chant of "death to Israel, death to America."

The bodies of the dead, including nine children, were carried onthe shoulders of the mourners who marched down the city's main street to the destroyed building to let their families and neighbors bid farewell to the killed.

The youngest among the dead was a two-month-old baby girl who was rapped with a Palestinian flag and carried in the arms of a Palestinian militant.

The crowd reached the main mosque of the city for prayers, then the bodies were carried again on the mourners' shoulders and headedtoward the local main cemetery.

"Sleep well martyrs, sleep well Sheikh Shehada, and never mind your people will revenge soon for your blood," chanted one of the militants, while another militant said the happiness of Israel and the Israelis would never last for too long.

Shehada has been wanted by Israel for several years for leading the armed wing of Hamas Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades which was behind a series of attacks against Israel over the past few years.

Representatives of the political bureaus of each group also attended the funeral and expressed condemnations and criticism of Israel for carrying out the airstrike on a civilian building.

"Israel now is not only involved in troubles with Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, but also involved in troubles with all the Palestinian people," said Imad Salman, one of the mourners, adding that "every Palestinian will revenge for their death."

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