Death toll 1133 Palestinian civilians, Israel tanks withdraw from Tel Al-Hawa after 16 tanks were destroyed by resistanc

An Israeli armored vehicle (Xinhua Photo)

January 16, 2009 --Israeli tanks withdrew on Friday from the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City after 24 hours of constant shelling, leaving behind the corpses of Palestinian civilians (women and children).

The incursion into Tel Al-Hawa was the farthest Israeli forces have entered into Gaza City since the beginning of the offensive. While in Tel Al-Hawa, Israeli forces attacked a Red Crescent hospital, setting it on fire.

Witnesses also reported that Israeli soldiers invaded residential buildings, ordering locals to leave. Hundreds fled to other parts of the city.

Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers seized a number of residents, abducting them as they left the area and used them as a human shields.

Mu’awiya Hassanein, the director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Ministry of Health, reported from Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City that at least 23 people had been killed in the Tel Al-Hawa invasion.

Hassanein said the overall death toll has reached 1,133. Another 5,150 have been injured.

Al Qassam Brigades and the Palestinian resistance announced that they destroyed more sixteen tanks in hard clashes as a response to the Israel invasion to the area.

Separately, in the southern Gaza Strip, medical officials said that 14-year-old Issa Ermelat was killed when Israeli forces shelled the area near the near An-Nejma market in Ash-Shaboura refugee camp in the city of Rafah. Another person was injured in the attack.

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, medics said that 22-year-old Mamdouh Abdel Latif Abu Rock was seriously injured by Israel forces in the town of Abassan. Before dawn on Friday, the Israeli air force said it attacked 40 targets across the Gaza Strip, including a mosque. (Edited: alqassam.ps)


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