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September 26, 2004
Mortar kills woman in Neveh Dekalim
MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
Hours after Tiferet Tratner, 24, was killed by a mortar shell that hit her house in Neveh Dekalim on Friday morning, the IDF entered the nearby Khan Yunis refugee camp in an attempt to halt rockets and mortar fire.
A Palestinian was killed and at least five were wounded in the incursion, which was continuing at press time. Palestinians claimed that at least 30 homes were demolished by troops operating in the camp; the IDF claimed that all the structures were empty and used only by terrorists to compile intelligence and launch attacks.
Tratner was at home when the mortar shell struck her, inflicting wounds to her head and chest. She was treated at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, where she died shortly after the attack.
Tratner was buried in Jerusalem’s Har Hamenuhot cemetery on Friday afternoon, hours before Yom Kippur began.
Another mortar shell fired into the community exploded near its synagogue, lightly wounding another civilian.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the Friday afternoon attack, saying it was in response to the recent killings of several of its senior commanders.
Residents of Gush Katif, meanwhile, blamed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his plan for unilateral disengagement.
Eran Sternberg, spokesman for the Hof Aza Regional Council, declared that Sharon’s policy is inciting to the murder of residents in Gush Katif and encourages terrorism. A statement issued by the regional council said, "Sharon continues to incite to the murder of Gush Katif residents… what can’t be achieved with advance payments [compensation for residents willing to leave in accordance with the disengagement plan] is done with mortars," the statement said.
Sternberg added,"It wouldn’t surprise us if mortars that explode in the area in the future bear the signature, ’From Sharon with love.’"
Late Friday night, in response to the deadly mortar fire in Neveh Dekalim, ground forces, accompanied by armored and engineering units, entered the outskirts of the refugee camp. During the operation, security forces came under intense gunfire — at least three anti-tank rockets, and a number of bombs were detonated near troops, who subsequently returned fire.
The Palestinian man who was killed — he was later identified as Abdullah Abu Alnemir, 60 — was hit by one of two missiles fired by an IAF helicopter at a group of men allegedly attempting to launch a mortar attack.
On the outskirts of Morag, near Gush Katif in the southern Gaza Strip, the army also cleared the area near IDF posts that surround the community, on the spot where three soldiers were killed by gunmen early Thursday morning. There, soldiers discovered a bomb, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, a cellular phone, and a spade.
Also over the weekend, a Kassam rocket was fired into the western Negev, landing in an open area between Kibbutz Nir Am and Sderot; no one was wounded in the attack. A second Kassam rocket was fired at an IDF base in the northern Gaza Strip, causing damage to a building but no casualties. An anti-tank rocket was fired at Netzarim in the central Gaza Strip, damaging a house in the community but causing no casualties.
Another anti-tank rocket and gunshots were fired at an IDF post on the Karni-Netzarim road over the holiday. Shots were also fired at an IDF post near Rafah.
On Saturday evening, a Kassam rocket blew up inside a Palestinian-controlled area and destroyed a car.
Meanwhile, security forces arrested 15 suspected terrorists in the West Bank over the weekend. Sappers blew up a roadside bomb discovered by troops near El-Khader, west of Bethlehem. Other bombs were detonated near troops deployed in Jenin and Beit Iba, west of Nablus. No one was wounded in the attacks and no damage was reported.
Shots were fired twice at soldiers in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus.
The blockade imposed on Jenin and Nablus following last week’s suicide bombing in Jerusalem, in which two border policemen were killed, will remain in force indefinitely. This is in addition to the ongoing general closure of Palestinian towns in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that is expected to be imposed through Succot.
In Memoriam
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