Israeli forces have raided the Rafah refugee camp since early Tuesday, killing at least 19 Palestinians.
Scores of Palestinians were wounded. Some of them could not reach the hospital as Israeli gunships and tanks target them, medics said.
Two brothers were killed and another wounded critically by Israeli gunfire, medical sources said. The medics at al-Najjar Hospital confirmed that the two brothers Ahmed Al Mughayyer, 10, and Asma' 11, were killed while Ra'ed al-Qady 27, was wounded with live gunshots in his heart.
Some other Palestinian victims were identified as Mahmoud Ismail Abu Tuq, 33, Emad al Maghari, Ahmed Jaser al Shaer, Mohammed Zo'rob 33, Mohammed Jaser al Shaer, 17, Ziad Shabana, Ibrahim Ismail al Balawi, 18 and his brother Ismail al Balawi.
Shortly after 4 A.M. (local time) an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at a crowd in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza Strip-Egypt border, witnesses said, killing at least four people and wounding 17.
The air strike, near a mosque, came as people were gathering for morning prayers, witnesses said.
Dr. Ali Mousa of Abu Yousef Al Najjar hospital in the city decried the Israeli crimes against the city and its population, and declared that the capacity of the hospital was not enough to absorb all the casualties around the city.
"Some of the dead bodies had to be put in nearby warehouses, as our morgue was not enough to fit them all. We don't have the proper equipment also to perform some of the surgeries here. We need urgent help from the international community to uplift this barbaric siege," he said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) called Tuesday on the World Health Organization (WHO) to immediately intervene to stop Israel's massacres against the Palestinian people in Rafah.
In its statement, MOH accused Israel of intentionally carrying out organized crimes to kill as many Palestinian civilians as possible.
In an earlier attack, three Palestinians were killed and eight people were wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at an unoccupied part of the Rafah refugee camp.
According to press reports, Israeli tanks and troops moved into the neighborhood of Tel Sultan and began digging a trench to separate the quarter from the rest of the camp, witnesses said.
A few minutes after the first missile strike, Israeli bulldozers began leveling land next to the refugee camp. Palestinian security officials said the huge, armored bulldozers moved to the edge of the Qishda section of the camp near the border and began working on land in an Israeli-controlled zone.
The massive Israeli raid comes amid international condemnation of Israeli demolitions of Palestinian houses in the area.
Early Tuesday, Arab states requested an immediate Security Council meeting to consider Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes in the refugee camp.
On its part, the Palestinian leadership called on the entire world, the Quartet Committee and the UN Security Council to end the Israeli massacre in Rafah.
In a statement issued Tuesday in Ramallah, it called on all the sides to immediately intervene and stop the ongoing massacre.
The leadership added that Israel's goal is to "destroy Rafah and depopulate it and this is why the Israeli forces bombarded mosques, clinics, targeted ambulances, and prevented them from evacuating the victims."
"The Israelis have been destroying all aspects of human life, turning houses and neighbourhoods into wreckage and debris," the Leadership said.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned Israeli continuous destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza Strip, saying that such acts "causing a very difficult and painful situation for the people of Palestine".
West Bank
In the West Bank, Palestinian sources reported that Israeli troops killed a 24-year old man. Nidal Abd al Rahman Akasha was shot in his chest, WAFA reported. Israel said the man was an armed Fatah fighter.
In Jenin area, an elite unit of the Israeli army killed a Palestinian man. The victim - Mohammed Ahmed Ubaid - was shot from a close range, eyewitnesses said. Israeli sources conveyed that Ubaid, 24, was a senior "wanted" Fatah activist. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
