(Jerusalem Post) Margot Dudkevitch and Herb Keinon - The Palestinian Authority initiated the parade that set out from the center of Rafah and headed towards IDF troops, said IDF Spokeswoman Brig.-Gen. Ruth Yaron. "No soldier or no commander gave or received orders to fire directly at civilians," said Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon. "We went to Rafah with force, because we want to leave Gaza," said Prime Minister Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin. "But we can't leave Gaza and leave intact its terrorist infrastructure." "We are dealing with a war zone and are engaged in a legitimate fight against terrorist organizations." "Unfortunately, people get caught in the cross fire, but this does not give the press the right to turn it into a crime scene, and accuse us of all sorts of crimes before all the data is available," Gissin said. IDF officers did not rule out the possibility that one of the exploding tank shells detonated a bomb placed by Palestinians on the road and this could have led to the casualties.
2004-05-20 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive