Israeli Army Expresses Regrets for Palestinian

（单词翻译）

Ross Dunn

Israel's Army expressed sadness Wednesday for the killing¹ of at least 10 Palestinians in southern Gaza. All the dead are reported to be under 18. More than 50 were wounded after an Israeli tank and a helicopter fired towards a crowd of Palestinian demonstrators in Rafah. The death toll² has risen to more than 30 since Israel launched a military incursion in the area to destroy weapons smuggling³ tunnels and arrest Palestinian militants⁴.

The Israeli Army released a statement Wednesday expressing deep sorrow over the loss of civilian⁵ lives.

The statement says that the incident occurred as a crowd of demonstrators, organized by the Palestinian Authority, left central Rafah and marched towards Israeli forces stationed on the outskirts⁶ of the town.

The Israeli Army says that as the demonstrators, with Palestinian gunmen among them, drew close to the Israeli troops, a single helicopter missile was fired as a warning into an open area.

Flares⁷ were also fired from a helicopter but when the crowd kept marching towards them, the Israeli troops fired a machine gun and four tank shells at the wall of an abandoned structure.

The Israeli army statement says it is possible that the casualties were a result of the tank fire and investigations⁹ are continuing.

The statement was released after Palestinian officials expressed their outrage¹⁰ at the incident, calling it a massacre¹¹ and a war crime.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Ghassan Khatib gave this reaction. "This most recent and most vicious Israeli crime of shelling by missiles a peaceful demonstration¹² is an indicator¹³ of the real intentions of the Israeli Army which is simply trying to effect the maximum casualties of the Palestinian people regardless of whether they are civilians¹⁴ are otherwise.”
 
But Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, insists the Israeli army did not intentionally¹⁵ fire on the Palestinian demonstrators. "Israel has no policy whatsoever¹⁶ of shooting at the crowds of demonstrators, willfully and directly," he said. "Therefore we are conducting a very thorough investigation⁸, almost like a police investigation, to find out what happened there."

Before the incident, Israeli officials said the operation in Rafah would continue until it destroyed all tunnels used to smuggle¹⁷ weapons and explosives from neighboring Egypt.

But some Israeli commentators¹⁹ say that the incident may force Israel to withdraw from the area sooner rather than later, for fear of drawing more condemnation²⁰ from the international community.

注释:
demonstrator [5demEnstreitE] n. 示威者
Rafah 加沙南部的拉法难民区
toll [tEul] n. 伤亡
incursion [in5kE:FEn] n. 袭击
smuggle [5smQ^l] n. 走私
release [ri5li:s] v. 发布
outskirts [5autsk\:ts] n. 边界
machine gun n. 机关枪
abandoned [E5bAndEnd] adj. 废弃的
outrage [5autreidV] n. 暴行
massacre [5mAsEkE(r)] n. 大屠杀
war crime 战争罪
vicious [5viFEs] adj. 罪恶的
indicator [5indikeitE] n. 指示
intention [in5tenFEn] n. 意图
maximum [5mAksimEm] adj. 最大限度的
regardless of 不管
willfully adv. 蓄意地
commentator¹⁸ [5kCmenteitE] n. 评论员