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Palestinians Term Israeli Bombings in Gaza, Ramallah as Declarationof War
Israeli military combat helicopters' bombings against targets in the West Bank city of Ramallah and Gaza City are "a declaration of war against the Palestinians," said a senior Palestinian official Thursday.
"This act of Israel is the declaration of war against the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian side calls for an urgent international intervention," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement.
After bombing targets in Ramallah, Israeli helicopters bombed targets in the Gaza City.
Eyewitnesses said that the helicopters fired at least five missiles just west of the Presidential Office of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Before the attacks, Israeli combat helicopters fired missiles and rockets at Palestinian police stations and buildings of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and civilian targets in Ramallah.
Meanwhile, Israeli army tanks also fired at targets in the city.
Arafat's office in Ramallah was the target of the bombing.
Eyewitnesses said that during the bombing in Ramallah, a Palestinian police station was totally destroyed while Arafat's office was partially damaged.
So far, they said, 16 Palestinians were wounded in the city, 12 of which were Palestinian police.
The Israeli military said that it has ordered Israel Air Force (IAF) to conduct "moderate" bombing against targets in Ramallah to warn the Palestinians that Israel can not tolerate any killing of Israeli soldiers.
Besides Israeli combat helicopters moving into action against Palestinian targets in Ramallah, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) also ordered tanks to take up positions around the city to back up the activities of the IDF helicopters.
There were no immediate reports of the casualties in the city.
The IAF's action was apparently taken following the incident earlier in the day in the city, in which two Israeli soldiers were killed by Palestinian youths inside the Palestinian police headquarters.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Ehud Barak called an urgent meeting of Israeli military and intelligence leaders to discuss the worsening situation.
The Palestinian police said the two Israeli soldiers were beaten to death by the Palestinian youths. But the Israeli side held the Palestinian police totally responsible for the incident.
Following the incident, Israeli troops imposed a total closure on all the cities and towns controlled by the PNA and nobody was allowed to move freely.
Making preparations to cope with more bombings, The Palestinian side ordered an evacuation from all the buildings occupied by the Palestinian security police.
However, an IDF officer said that the attacks were limited action in response to the deaths of the two Israeli soldiers.
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