Hamas missiles also take Palestinian casualties
Friday, January 2, 2009 Free Headline Alerts
GAZA CITY — Palestinians, including children, have been seriously injured by Hamas and Islamic Jihad missiles fired toward Israel before the Israeli offensive began last weekend.
Palestinian sources said missiles fired by the Hamas regime and the Iranian-sponsored Jihad have gone off-course and landed in communities in the Gaza Strip. They said several Palestinian youngsters have been seriously injured in late December.
"In the past three days, six Palestinians, including four children, were injured as a result of the continuation of the misuse of weapons," the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said last week.
"The wounds of three children were described as serious."
In a statement on Dec. 23, the human rights group said Kassam-class missiles have fallen around the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. On Dec. 22, two children were injured when a missile fell near the Beit Hanoun Agriculture College.
On Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, missiles fell in both the residential and industrial zones of Beit Hanoun. At least three people were reported injured.
Palestinian sources said the ratio of missiles that accidentally fell into the Gaza Strip has dropped in 2008. They attributed this to the deployment of more accurate and longer-range weapons. More than 300 missiles and rockets have landed in Israel since November 2008.
On Dec. 23, a Hamas combatant was killed when a bomb he was said to have been assembling blew up east of Khan Yunis. Palestinian sources said Jasser Jabur Qudaih was killed and two of his relatives were injured in an explosion that rocked the town of Abassan Al Kabera.
"PCHR calls also upon Palestinian resistance groups to be far away from civilian populated area when conducting military actions," the group said.