Woman and toddler die in Israel taxi attack
A Palestinian woman and her two-year-old daughter were shot dead today while riding in a taxi in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinians, who claimed Israeli troops were responsible.
But Israel’s army said its soldiers did not fire anywhere in the area.
Randa Hindi, 44, and her daughter, Noor, were killed by machine gun fire from an Israeli tank, according to Dr Ahmed Rabeh, spokesman for al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Balah.
A passenger in the taxi, Jamal Ismail, 29, said the car came under fire just after passing the Netzarim junction near a Jewish settlement that is heavily guarded by the army.
Hindi screamed, and the driver sped away. The other passengers included two more of Hindi’s children, but no one else was hurt.
"When I looked back, I saw a very horrible scene I can never forget. The woman and her baby were in a pool of blood," Ismail said.
But the army denied that there was any Israeli firing in the area.
The Palestinian Authority angrily denounced the shooting.
Also, in Gaza, a 44-year-old Palestinian man, Subhi Shurab, was killed by Israeli gunfire while walking from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis to his home just outside town, Palestinian security officials said. The army spokesman’s office said it was unaware of any shooting in the area.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tried to smooth over a rift with his security officers in the West Bank.
Arafat was due to meet officers from the Preventive Security branch in the wake of the firing of its chief, Jibril Rajoub.
But the security officers were denied entry into Arafat’s compound by Israeli forces that control the streets of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said.
This week, Arafat appointed the governor of Jenin, Zuheir al-Manasra, to replace Rajoub.
But more than 40 officers in the Preventive Security force told reporters that Rajoub had to be included in the Palestinian Authority’s security infrastructure.
"We have a clear and frank message for President Arafat - on the necessity to get a suitable position for (Rajoub) inside the Palestinian Authority at the political and security level," said Maj Gen Majed Faraj, the head of Preventive Security in the West Bank town of Hebron.
Rajoub, one of the most powerful Palestinian figures after Arafat, was dismissed on Tuesday, according to Palestinian officials. But he did not receive Arafat’s formal notification until Thursday _ a perceived snub that riled Rajoub’s officers.
Arafat offered Rajoub the job as governor of Jenin, a post he rejected. Some Preventive Security officers threatened not to work under the new commander, raising speculation the force - the strongest security branch in the West Bank - might be disbanded.
