MIDDLE EAST: Palestinians yesterday stopped Israel from destroying the homes of two militants by surrounding it with a human shield.
In the first incident of its kind, hundreds of his neighbours surrounded the home of Mohammed Baroud and climbed on its roof after he received a call from the Israeli army informing him he had 30 minutes to vacate his home before it was destroyed by missiles. The Israeli air force called off its strike because of the risk of killing a large number of civilians.
It is the first time Palestinians have thwarted an Israeli air strike in this way. Israel has developed a strategy of telephoning its targets to ensure that nobody is inside when the homes are struck. Residents are given about half an hour to gather some clothes and escape. Neighbours are also contacted if the explosion is likely to endanger them.
It is likely that Israel will have to find a new way of destroying homes as yesterday's protest began to be copied elsewhere.
Nizar Rayan, a Hamas member who led the Jabalya protest, said Palestinians would continue to rush into every house to be threatened by bombardment. "We will pay with our lives to protect the houses of the fighters so they can resist the enemy assured that their homes are being protected," he said.
The home of Mr Baroud, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees, in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, was the first to be saved. Two hours later Israel warned Mohammed Nawajeh, a member of Hamas, that his house would be targeted and the same process occurred. Both men are accused by Israel of involvement in firing rockets at Israel.
There was a sense of euphoria in Gaza that people had managed to stand up to the Israeli air force, but Israel proved its military muscle later yesterday when an aircraft fired a missile at a car in Gaza City, wounding nine, people, including two Hamas militants. Four were children, aged five, 13, 14 and 16, who suffered shrapnel injuries. Later an elderly man died of his wounds.