12 May 2004 HAARETZ 1. IDF IN OPERATION TO EXTRICATE BODIES OF 6 SOLDIERS KILLED IN GAZA APC EXPLOSION. CONTACTS WITH PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY IN ATTEMPT TO RETURN BODY PARTS; CABINET DECIDES: IDF WILL REMAIN IN GAZA; 999 VICTIMS SINCE BEGINNING OF INTIFADA. 2. ZEITOUN NEIGHBOURHOOD: EVERY ARMED PERSON IS MOVING AROUND WITH A BAG OF BODY PARTS. HATZOFEH 1. Six Givati Brigade engineering unit soldiers killed in APC explosion at end of an operation to eliminate Kassam rocket factories. In Gaza – horrific sights: Mobs dance with body parts and pictures were broadcast all over the world. IDF begins operation to locate the bodies in order to bring the boys to a proper burial. GAZA HORROR. Cabinet decides: IDF will remain in Gaza Strip until soldiers bodies are returned to Israel. Foreign Minister Shalom calls to remove Arafat – proposal rejected. IDF admits: Soldiers were killed because we did not want to carry out aerial bombing lest civilians be injured. Terrorist organizations announce that they have the body parts as bargaining chips. Chief-of-Staff: We will not negotiate for return of soldiers bodies.
MAARIV 1. APC disaster: Parts of fighters bodies – in hands of terrorists. WE WILL RETURN TO INFERNO FOR THEM. Exhausted, after a day of fighting in depths of Gaza Strip, Givati fighters left on most terrible mission of all. From house to house, from roof to roof, under fire, they searched for their friends bodies. Now they are willing to endanger themselves again so that their brothers will be brought to proper burial. The craziness and the cruelty: Palestinians proudly paraded horrific pictures of Israeli soldiers bodies. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Soldiers going from house to house in search for their friends bodies. SIX BOYS. As if there isnt enough bereavement, fight is now for the little that remains: Remains of bodies, that are in the hands of the Palestinians and were put on display. ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Both papers comment on various aspects of yesterdays incident in Gaza: Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, cites Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who are of the opinion that, it was an historical mistake to settle amidst the ocean of Palestinians in Gaza, and asks, Why, and for what, did the six Givati fighters lose their lives yesterday, and how many more will lose their lives until we read the jubilant headline: Mom, Im home? The editors believe that there is no alternative to disengagement and asks, What will we say to tomorrows bereaved mother? Hatzofeh declares that, Only extremist Islam behaves like a predatory beast and it understands only one language, that of beasts, and calls on the government and the IDF to, act towards Hamas and its cohorts according to their methods. Yediot Ahronot notes that 50 years ago, the late Moshe Dayan gave a eulogy for a soldier who was murdered near the Gaza Strip by terrorists, in which he spoke about the hatred that the Arab residents of Gaza feel towards Israel. Yediot Ahronot, in its third editorial, accuses parents from the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip who attended the recent memorial for the Hatuel family on the Kisufim road of acting very much like Palestinian parents by needlessly puting their children at risk. BPI.
