Israel Kills 15 Palestinians in Raid on Gaza Refugee Camp

 

Ross Dunn
 
Israeli forces launched air strikes in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza Tuesday killing¹ at least 13 Palestinians and wounding 30 others. Israeli ground forces have also moved into the area in an operation that Israel says is aimed at halting arms smuggling² from neighboring Egypt and arresting or killing wanted Palestinian militants³.

Israeli military helicopters fired missiles into the Rafah refugee camp in two raids early Tuesday.

Israeli tanks and bulldozers also moved into the camp, as soldiers conducted house-to-house searches for Palestinian militants, and some of the troops exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen.

The head of the Israeli Army, General Moshe Ya'alon, says that at least nine of those killed in the operation were known Palestinian militants. He says Israel has been forced to enter Rafah after it became, in his words, a gateway⁴ for terrorism.

The operation has drawn⁵ protests from human-rights groups and humanitarian⁶ organizations, including the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which handles aid for Palestinian refugees. Spokesman Paul McCann voiced these concerns.

"Well we have said repeatedly that the actions of the Israelis in Rafah are a disproportionate response to the military threat that they face there, that effectively they come to collective punishment of the population."

Mr. McCann says 1,000 Palestinians have been made homeless in recent days due to the destruction of their homes by Israeli forces.

But Israeli Major-General Dan Harel blames Palestinian militants who use residential⁷ areas for their operations. And he says Israel is not destroying homes just to expand its security zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, where five Israeli soldiers were killed last week. Israel announced such a plan after the attack, but it received broad international criticism.

"It is said that the terrorists make use of the Palestinian infrastructure⁸ to operate from there with no regard for the well-being⁹ of the Palestinians in Rafah," he said. "Any structures that were destroyed in the past few days were destroyed only within the context of the bitter battle that was between us and the terrorists fighting us from the Rafah area. No structures were demolished¹⁰ as part of the plan to widen the border road area."

The Israeli Army chief, General Ya'alon, told reporters there are no immediate¹¹ plans to start mass demolitions¹² of houses in the area to widen the security zone. But his comments did little to ease anger over the operation among Palestinian leaders.

Nabil Abu Rudeinah, a spokesman for the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, says the international community should intervene to stop the Israeli military operation.

"This new military escalation¹³ is endangering every effort and we urge the Americans to stop this Israeli aggression," said Mr. Rudeinah. "And we are going to demand the [U.N.] Security Council to take an immediate action to stop this escalation. This escalation is dangerous and is going to lead to more violence and instability in the region."

Israel says the operation is designed to prevent the area from being used to smuggle¹⁴ weapons and explosives from Egypt through a network of tunnels, and to prevent the killing of more Israeli soldiers by Palestinian militants operating in the area.

Israeli officials say such operations will remain necessary as long as Palestinian militants continue to use the area to smuggle weapons and explosives across the border from Egypt.

注释:
Rafah 拉法，位于加沙南部的一个省
halt [hC:lt] v. 中断
missile [5misail] n. 导弹
raid [reid] n. 袭击
bulldozer [5buldEuzE] n. 推土机
exchanged fire 交火
U.N. Relief and Works Agency 联合国难民救济工程局
disproportionate [7disprE5pC:FEnit] adj. 不相称的
infrastructure [5infrE5strQktFE] n. 基础设施
well-being [5welbiiN] n. 安宁
escalation [7eskE5leiFEn] n. 扩大
endanger [in5deindVE] v. 危及
Security Council  联合国安全理事会

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

10 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 demolitions   

n.毁坏，破坏，拆毁( demolition的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Randy Couture as Toll Road, an Expendable and demolitions expert. 大卫·萨亚斯饰演加尔扎将军，邪恶的独裁者。 来自互联网
• Allied Demolitions upgrade moved one slot to the left on the Allied HQ UI. 盟军的爆破升级在指挥部界面中左移一格（由于现在没钳子升级了，所以填钳子的位置）。 来自互联网

13 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

14 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。