Israeli Army Expresses Regrets for Palestinian

 

Ross Dunn

Israel's Army expressed sadness Wednesday for the killing¹ of at least 10 Palestinians in southern Gaza. All the dead are reported to be under 18. More than 50 were wounded after an Israeli tank and a helicopter fired towards a crowd of Palestinian demonstrators in Rafah. The death toll² has risen to more than 30 since Israel launched a military incursion in the area to destroy weapons smuggling³ tunnels and arrest Palestinian militants⁴.

The Israeli Army released a statement Wednesday expressing deep sorrow over the loss of civilian⁵ lives.

The statement says that the incident occurred as a crowd of demonstrators, organized by the Palestinian Authority, left central Rafah and marched towards Israeli forces stationed on the outskirts⁶ of the town.

The Israeli Army says that as the demonstrators, with Palestinian gunmen among them, drew close to the Israeli troops, a single helicopter missile was fired as a warning into an open area.

Flares⁷ were also fired from a helicopter but when the crowd kept marching towards them, the Israeli troops fired a machine gun and four tank shells at the wall of an abandoned structure.

The Israeli army statement says it is possible that the casualties were a result of the tank fire and investigations⁹ are continuing.

The statement was released after Palestinian officials expressed their outrage¹⁰ at the incident, calling it a massacre¹¹ and a war crime.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Ghassan Khatib gave this reaction. "This most recent and most vicious Israeli crime of shelling by missiles a peaceful demonstration¹² is an indicator¹³ of the real intentions of the Israeli Army which is simply trying to effect the maximum casualties of the Palestinian people regardless of whether they are civilians¹⁴ are otherwise.”
 
But Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, insists the Israeli army did not intentionally¹⁵ fire on the Palestinian demonstrators. "Israel has no policy whatsoever¹⁶ of shooting at the crowds of demonstrators, willfully and directly," he said. "Therefore we are conducting a very thorough investigation⁸, almost like a police investigation, to find out what happened there."

Before the incident, Israeli officials said the operation in Rafah would continue until it destroyed all tunnels used to smuggle¹⁷ weapons and explosives from neighboring Egypt.

But some Israeli commentators¹⁹ say that the incident may force Israel to withdraw from the area sooner rather than later, for fear of drawing more condemnation²⁰ from the international community.

注释:
demonstrator [5demEnstreitE] n. 示威者
Rafah 加沙南部的拉法难民区
toll [tEul] n. 伤亡
incursion [in5kE:FEn] n. 袭击
smuggle [5smQ^l] n. 走私
release [ri5li:s] v. 发布
outskirts [5autsk\:ts] n. 边界
machine gun n. 机关枪
abandoned [E5bAndEnd] adj. 废弃的
outrage [5autreidV] n. 暴行
massacre [5mAsEkE(r)] n. 大屠杀
war crime 战争罪
vicious [5viFEs] adj. 罪恶的
indicator [5indikeitE] n. 指示
intention [in5tenFEn] n. 意图
maximum [5mAksimEm] adj. 最大限度的
regardless of 不管
willfully adv. 蓄意地
commentator¹⁸ [5kCmenteitE] n. 评论员

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 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 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。

4 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。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

7 flares   

n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开

参考例句：

• The side of a ship flares from the keel to the deck. 船舷从龙骨向甲板外倾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation. 他是火爆性子，一点就着。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

10 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

11 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

12 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

13 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

14 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

15 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

16 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

17 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。

18 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

19 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。