(BBC News) Every few minutes Israeli troops sent bursts of machine gun fire up Sikkert Street in Jabaliya. Taking cover at the corners were Palestinian militants. They were armed and they wore masks. Most were from the Hamas movement. And crowding around the fighters were large numbers of Jabaliya's teenagers and boys - some no more than eight or nine years old. With a mixture of defiance and bravado and stupidity, some would step out into the street, and then scramble for cover. The Israelis say they have every right to be at the gates of Jabaliya, to stop Hamas firing rockets from Gaza into neighboring southern Israel.
2004-09-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive