TEL AVIV — Israel's military has begun calling Palestinians
whose homes have been targeted as terror sites in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Military sources said Israel had sent a telephone message to residents of a house destroyed in the northern
Gaza Strip. The message warned
the residents that their building would be the target of an air strike.
"There were two phone calls just to make sure they understood what we
were about to do," a source said.
The sources said the method has been used in Lebanon during the current
war against Hizbullah. They said Lebanese have responded to the telephoned
warnings.
Mohammed Shurafa said in an interview with a Gaza radio station that he
received a call from a man who identified himself as an Israel Army
representative. The caller ordered the resident to leave his house.
The military has acknowledged the story. A spokeswoman said the northern
Gaza house was used as a warehouse for the Islamic Jihad.
Shurafa said he and his family complied. But a few minutes later,
concluding that the call was a joke, they returned. At that point, the
telephone rang again.
"He said: 'Why did you return? This is not a joke,'" Shurafa recalled.
Shurafa said he and his family fled the home. Several minutes later, the
house was struck by an air-to-ground missile.
On Tuesday, Palestinian gunners fired at least three Kassam-class,
short-range missiles into Israel. There were no reports of injuries.
In an unrelated development, at least four Palestinian Authority
employees fainted after they opened a package believed to have contained
lethal toxins. PA sources said the package was addressed to Deputy Prime
Minister Nasser Eddin Shaer, sought by Israel.