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May 16, 2004
2 soldiers killed; IDF leaves Rafah
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Two IDF soldiers were killed and two moderately wounded by Palestinian sniper fire in the Rafah refugee camp on Friday afternoon. They were identified as St.-Sgt. Alexei Hyat, 20, of Beersheba, and St.-Sgt. Rotem Adam, 21, of Rishon Lezion.
Adam was to be buried on Sunday at 3 a. m. in the Holon Military Cemetery, while details of Hyat’s funeral have not yet been released.
The soldiers, all from the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar unit, were positioned in one of the local homes in order to safeguard other troops searching for the remains of two of the five soldiers killed when their APC was hit on the Philadelphi Route on Wednesday afternoon.
Brig.-Gen. Shmuel Zakai, the Gaza division commander, described the incident."As soldiers remained inside the Palestinian homes longer then expected, we arranged for food to be brought in for the locals. One of the soldiers opened the door to assist an elderly Palestinian woman to bring in the food and was shot.
"Another soldier went to his assistance and was also shot and an armored vehicle that reached the scene to assist in evacuating the wounded came under fire and two other soldiers were hit."
Zakai said that, before pulling out of Rafah at the completion of the operation, scores of anti-tank rockets and thousands of bullets were fired at troops and over 100 bombs detonated near soldiers searching for their comrades’ remains. Thirty Palestinians were killed and over 100 wounded, which shows the scope of the Palestinian resistance.
"The Palestinians made cynical use of children, using them as cover while moving from one alley to another. Terrorists also used ambulances in order to reach different places in the camp to attack soldiers."
"They also took over a local mosque and shot at troops, but we refrained from shooting back, because it is a holy site,‘ he said. ’All the houses that were demolished were used by terrorists to shoot at the soldiers. Not one house was demolished in order to expand the Philadelphi Route or as an act of collective punishment."
Since Tuesday, 13 IDF soldiers have been killed in three separate attacks, nine of them from the Givati Brigade. Zakai told reporters at a briefing on Saturday that the soldiers died a hero’s death and had fought courageously against the Palestinian terror.
Shortly after the sniping incident, IAF helicopters fired on groups of armed Palestinians spotted in the area, killing one and wounding several others. The Fatah al-Aksa Brigade claimed responsibility for the sniper attack. The two wounded soldiers were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
Late Friday night, IDF units pulled out of the camp with the conclusion of the search for remains of Lt. Aviv Hakani, 23, and Sgt. Zohar Smelev, 20, killed in Wednesday’s attack. Their remains were handed over to the L. Greenberg Forensic Institute in Abu Kabir.
On Saturday, the IDF Spokesman announced that Hakani’s remains had been positively identified and he was posthumously awarded the rank of captain. He is to be buried Sunday at 5 p. m. in the Ashdod Military Cemetery.
Three of the five soldiers — Sgt. Elad Cohen, 20, St.-Sgt. Lior Vishinsky, 20, and Sgt.-Maj. Aiman Gadir, 24 — whose remains were identified on Thursday, were buried on Friday.
"Not one soldier who participated in the search [for the remains] challenged the decision. It is not just a moral question for the dead soldiers’ families, but also for the soldiers still living. Every soldier must know that the minute the state and the IDF needs him for a mission, everything will be done to ensure he returns alive, and if hit, then for burial in Israel," said Zakai.
While the investigation into the loss of 11 soldiers in the two APCs last week continues, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya’alon has ordered that units must refrain from transporting explosives in APCs.
OC Chaplaincy Corps Brig.-Gen. Yisrael Weiss authorized soldiers to continue searching for the remains of the two other soldiers over Shabbat, after senior IDF commanders told him that if the search was called off and resumed after Shabbat, terrorists might take advantage of the situation to regroup.
Hours after troops pulled out of Rafah, the air force targeted two buildings in Gaza city affiliated with Islamic Jihad and on Saturday morning a third building described as an Islamic Jihad bomb factory in the heart of Rafah.
The two buildings hit Friday night were the three-story Research Center in Gaza, whose director is Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad al-Hindi. According to officials, the academic center is a front for Islamic Jihad terrorists, who coordinate and transmit messages between the different parties in the Gaza Strip to officials abroad.
The second target that was hit was the Antsar Association, which distributes propaganda on behalf of Hizbullah and Iranian elements in the Palestinian-controlled areas. Funds from Hizbullah elements and others in Iran are sent to the association, which under the guise of charity is also involved in recruiting and dispatching terrorists to perpetrate attacks against Israel. Ten Palestinians were reported wounded in both air raids.
Palestinians accused Israel of attempting to assassinate Hindi, as his house located near one of the targets and was damaged. At the time of the attack Hindi was not in the house.
On Saturday morning a bomb factory belonging to the Islamic Jihad was destroyed in Rafah. According to the officials, the factory contained stockpiles of weapons and ammunition as well as bombs smuggled into the Gaza Strip via tunnels from Egypt. Palestinians claimed the building hit belonged to Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Sheikh Halil.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters at Kerem Shalom on Friday morning that the terrorists used UNWRA ambulances to smuggle out the body parts of the six dead soldiers killed in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City Gaza when their APC hit a mine.
Mofaz said he expects UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to address the issue. Paul McCann, a spokesman for UNWRA, said he had no information on the matter and declared he would be happy to receive more concrete information and proof of the claims.
Ya’alon said the army had been forced to demolish the first row of empty houses in Rafah that were used by terrorists as cover to dig the tunnels used to smuggle weapons and also to launch attacks against soldiers there. "We have destroyed houses in the past and it appears we will have to destroy more in the future," he said.
The IDF Spokesman refused to reveal the exact number of Palestinian houses and structures that had been destroyed, but Palestinians claim that between 90 to 110 have been demolished by the army in the past two days. Israel’s actions generated harsh criticism from Annan, who called on Israel to halt demolitions immediately.
On Friday night, the High Court of Justice issued an injunction barring the IDF from demolishing additional homes in Rafah and widening the Philadelphi Route pending a hearing on the issue on Sunday. IDF officers noted that, with the outbreak of fighting in the area, many locals left their homes and armed Palestinians took them over. They said the army has documented evidence proving that the majority of the buildings destroyed were used by terrorists to launch attacks against soldiers.
St.-Sgt. Alexei Hyat from Beersheba immigrated to Israel three years ago in the footsteps of his sister, Marina. Their mother died several years ago from cancer and their father lives in Russia. Marina told reporters the last time she spoke to her brother he told her he was about to participate in an operation. "I heard gunfire and I told him to be careful," she said.
When IDF officers arrived at her home to inform her of her brother’s death, she said she felt she was in the middle of a dream. "He was my little brother. Something must be done so such things won’t happen."
On arrival in Israel, Alexei lived at Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev and studied Hebrew at an ulpan. After joining the army he moved to Beersheba, where he lived in a rented apartment. Last month, the Jewish Agency succeeded in tracking down the Hyats’ father and brought him to Israel to meet his children, whom he had not seen for some time.
St.-Sgt. Rotem Adam was to have completed his army service in four months, but was considering signing up for an extra period. "Charismatic with a good sense of humor" was the way his friends described him. Rotem loved the army and enjoyed his service in the Givati Brigade, they said. He is survived by his parents, Ovadia and Drora, two brothers — one who is due to complete his compulsory service and the other who was recently drafted — and a 15-year-old sister.
In Memoriam
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