Israeli Strike Kills Islamic Jihad Leader

"Aziz Shami,37 , died of his injuries shortly after being admitted to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza," Dr Bakr Abu Safia, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

An Israeli attack helicopter filed a missile on Shami’s car as he was traveling through Gaza City center, medical and security sources.

Security sources said earlier in the day that the man, the cousin of senior Islamic Jihad leader Abdullah al-Shami, was seriously wounded in the legs.

Another senior Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed al-Hindi, told AFP that Shami had been in a serious condition in the hospital where he had both legs amputated.

"The attack was an Israeli assassination attempt against Aziz Shami," he underlined, vowing that the group will avenge him.

Witnesses also heard the roar and boom of F- 16fighter jets breaking the sound barrier over Gaza.

Child Victim
A 12 -year-old Palestinian child, Tareq al-Sussi, was also killed in the Israeli raid.

Nine other people, including children aged two and10 , were also wounded and taken to hospital.

The new fatalities up to3 , 740the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian Intifada against occupation in September 2000 , including2 , 797Palestinians, according to an AFP count.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said he had been "informed of an Israeli F- 15raid in Gaza.

"I condemn this attack which is a new Israeli attack aimed at escalating the violence," he said from the West Bank town of Ramallah.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed in a statement that an air raid had been carried out in Gaza.

He claimed it was launched "against an important member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, responsible for murdering soldiers and implicated in preparations for attacks" against Israelis.

Shami’s killing came two days after Israeli army assassinated a leader of Hamas military wing in the Bureij refugee camp in the West Bank.

Hamas vowed revenge, saying in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net, that "a dear price will be paid."

Israeli occupation forces also killed a member of the military offshoot of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) on Wednesday, February4 .

Israeli occupation forces also killed civilians in recent raids.

Five Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli raids in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and the West Bank city of Jericho during the first two days of Eid.

Joint Protests

In the meantime, nearly3 , 000protestors, including both Palestinians and Israelis, rallied Saturday against the Israeli controversial West Bank separation wall.

"No to apartheid, " and "The wall creates a prison for Palestinians, a ghetto for Israel," chanted the demonstrators.

The wall will eventually snake some 700 kilometers along the West Bank and leave even larger swathes of Palestinian territory on the Israeli side.

Dozens of Palestinian towns and villages, in addition to several quarters in occupied Al-Quds, will be surrounded by the barrier and cut off from the rest of the Palestinian territories, isolating some350 ,000 Palestinians.

The protest was jointly organized by two Israeli peace groups, Gush Shalom and the bicommunal organization Tayush.

The Palestinians charge that the separation wall is a deliberate attempt to pre-empt the borders of their promised state.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is likely to appear before the court, had dismissed the wall as a blow to peace and a "deeply counterproductive" act in violation of international law.

In September, a U.N. report branded the wall as illegal annexation of Palestinian territory and must be condemned by the world community.

Following an Arab-backed resolution, the United Nations General Assembly asked the ICJ to rule on the legality of the barrier.