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64-year-old woman kills herself in suicide attack

As fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants continues, she chooses martyrdom.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 24, 2006

JEBALIYA, Gaza Strip - A 64-year-old Palestinian grandmother blew herself up near Israeli troops sweeping through northern Gaza on Thursday, and eight other Palestinians were killed in a day of clashes and rocket fire.

The militant Hamas, which is in charge of the Palestinian government, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack and identified the bomber as Fatma Omar An-Najar. Her relatives said she was 64 - by far the oldest of the more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers who have targeted Israelis over the past six years.

Israeli forces were moving through the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the second day of an operation to stem rocket fire from the coastal strip into southern Israel. They spotted a woman acting suspiciously, the military said. Soldiers threw a stun grenade, a weapon that makes a loud nose but causes no damage. The woman then set off explosives she was carrying, killing herself and slightly wounding two soldiers.

At the compound where her extended family lives near Jebaliya camp, her oldest daughter Fatheya explained the bomber's motives.

"They (Israelis) destroyed her house, they killed her grandson - my son. Another grandson is in a wheelchair with an amputated leg," she said.

Female suicide bombers were a rarity during the first several years of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but that has gradually changed. The last suicide bombing, on Nov. 6, was also carried out by a woman.

The past few weeks have seen an increase in militant activity by women in Gaza who have served as "human shields" defending the homes of militants that Israel has threatened to destroy.

Hamas spokesman Abu Obeideh said both Palestinian men and women are committed to battling the Israelis.

"We told the Zionist enemy we will meet it with many surprises ... and this is one of the surprises," he said.

Before setting out on her mission, An-Najar filmed the video testament customary for suicide bombers. A copy obtained by the Associated Press showed a petite woman wearing a white head scarf and black dress, toting an assault rifle on her shoulder and standing in front of a Hamas mural.

Reading from a sheet of paper, she dedicated her attack to the Hamas-led government and to the movement's military commander, Mohammed Deif.

"I hope God accepts it," she said.

Eight other Palestinians were killed Thursday. In Gaza, three militants from the Popular Resistance Committees were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their car, Palestinian security and hospital officials said. The military confirmed the air force had attacked a vehicle.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade said one of its men, a 20-year-old, was killed in a clash.

Two Hamas militants were killed in a gunbattle with Israeli forces, and another was shot dead as he was about to fire a rocket at Israel, the military said. Another man died of wounds in a Gaza hospital. It was not known whether he was a militant or a civilian.

Despite the stepped-up Israeli military operations, militants kept firing their homemade rockets at southern Israel. Five were fired from Gaza, the army said. No one was hurt.

[Last modified November 24, 2006, 01:22:33]