Chicago Tribune - 24.02.2020

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Chicago Tribune|Section 1|Monday, February 24, 2020 15


JERUSALEM — Pal-
estinian militants fired
about 20 rockets toward
southern Israel on Sunday
evening, the Israeli military
said, hours after Israel said
it killed a Palestinian mili-
tant who tried to place a
bomb along the Israel-Gaza
barrier fence.
There was no immediate
claim for the rocket fire, but
it appeared to be meant to
avenge the death of the
militant.
Palestinians were furi-
ous over the image of the
man’s lifeless body dan-
gling off the front of an
Israeli bulldozer that had
crossed into Gaza to re-

trieve it. There was also
criticism in Gaza of the
territory’s Hamas rulers for
not responding.
The Israeli military re-
ported air raid sirens
throughout southern Isra-
el, and said at least 20
rockets had been fired.
There were no reports of
damage or injuries on the
Israeli side, but it was the
heaviest barrage of rockets
from the Gaza Strip in
several months.
Air raid sirens continued
into the evening. Israel’s
Home Front Command or-
dered the suspension of
classes in Israeli schools in
southern Israeli communi-

ties near the Gaza Strip on
Monday and prohibited
large gatherings.
In response, the Israeli
military said aircraft struck
Islamic Jihad operatives
“preparing to launch rock-
ets from the northern Gaza
Strip at Israeli territory”
Sunday night.
The Gaza health min-
istry reported that four
Palestinians were treated at
the Al-Shifa hospital in
Gaza City for wounds
caused by the Israeli
strikes.
Israel and the Islamic
Jihad group engaged in a
heavy round of fighting last
November.

Cuomo: NY Jewish center


evacuated amid threats in US


ALBANY, N.Y. — The
Albany Jewish Communi-
ty Center was evacuated
and searched Sunday
morning after it and sev-
eral other centers around
the country received
anonymous emails with
vague threats that men-
tioned a bomb, Gov. An-
drew Cuomo said.
Cuomo went to the Al-
bany center after police
evacuated about 100 peo-
ple, searched the building
with dogs and declared it
safe.


Similar vague threats
were emailed to about 18
Jewish Community Cen-
ters around the country,
according to Cuomo’s of-
fice. The centers provide
educational, fitness and
social programs for chil-
dren and adults. Cuomo’s
office had no further de-
tails about the nature of
the threats nor whether
police searched other lo-
cations.
Cuomo said the FBI is
investigating where the
threats originated.

Hanukkah attack hero declines


$20K reward over Zionism


WEST NYACK, N.Y. —
An Orthodox Jewish man
credited as a hero for
attacking a knife-wielding
man who stabbed five
people during a
Hanukkah celebration
north of New York City is
refusing to take a $20,
reward from established
Jewish groups because he
considers them Zionists,
according to a rabbi who
knows him.
Officials with the Jew-
ish Federation and the


Anti-Defamation League
told The Journal News
that they were caught off
guard by Josef Gluck’s
decision to turn down the
reward, the newspaper re-
ported Friday.
“The reward would
have been for anybody
who offered information
that would lead to an
arrest,” said Miriam Allen-
son, spokeswoman for the
Jewish Federation &
Foundation of Rockland
County.

Man drives Jeep off 6-story


roof of Los Angeles-area garage


SANTA MONICA, Cal-
if. — A man drove his Jeep
off the sixth floor of a Los
Angeles-area parking ga-
rage early Sunday and was
taken to a hospital in
critical condition, author-
ities said.
When officers arrived
shortly after midnight,
they found the destroyed
vehicle up against a
McDonald’s restaurant
across the street from the
garage in Santa Monica,
police said.


They said the 20-year-
old driver, who was not
immediately identified,
was conscious and speak-
ing with officers when
they arrived.
Firefighters extricated
him from the wreckage
and took him to a trauma
center, the Santa Monica
Fire Department said.
Two passengers inside
the Jeep were able to jump
out before it went off the
roof, the Los Angeles
Times reported.

Israel hits Islamic Jihad targets in Syrian capital


DAMASCUS, Syria — Is-
rael struck multiple targets
near the Syrian capital late
Sunday, triggering anti-air-
craft fire from the country’s
air defenses that shook
Damascus. It was the latest
attack by Israel on the
war-ravaged country.
A Syrian military state-
ment reported an Israeli

attack near Damascus In-
ternational Airport and
said its air defenses con-
fronted Israeli rockets
coming from the direction
of the Israeli-occupied
Golan Heights.
In a rare acknowledg-
ment of operations in
neighboring Syria, Israel
said its warplanes attacked

targets of the Palestinian
militant Islamic Jihad
group south of Damascus
in addition to sites in the
Gaza Strip.
It said the sites attacked
were used for “research
and development of arma-
ments” that are manufac-
tured in Syria and the Gaza
Strip.

Iraqi officials:


1 protester


shot dead in


fresh violence


BAGHDAD — One pro-
tester was shot dead and at
least six wounded in re-
newed violence between
anti-government demon-
strators and security
forces in central Baghdad
on Sunday, Iraqi officials
said.
One protester was
killed in Baghdad’s central
Khilani Square on Sunday
evening and at least six
were wounded when se-
curity forces fired live
rounds to disperse
crowds, Iraqi security and
medical officials said. The
clashes occurred near the
Sinak bridge, which was
recently reopened by se-
curity forces after pro-
testers had blocked access
for months.
The officials spoke on
condition of anonymity.
Protesters continue to
occupy central Tahrir
square and adjacent
Jumhuriyah bridge,
which leads to the forti-
fied Green Zone, the seat
of Iraq’s government.

In Haiti: Haitian police
officers exchanged gun-
fire for hours Sunday with
soldiers of the newly re-
constituted army outside
the national palace, in a
dangerous escalation of
protests over police pay
and working conditions.
At least three police
officers were wounded,
fellow officers said. The
army’s high command
said in an online statement
that a soldier had been
wounded by a bullet in the
back.
AP journalists saw doz-
ens of men who said they
were off-duty officers
march with hundreds of
supporters toward the
palace, demanding better
pay for Haitian law-en-
forcement officers.
The protest stopped
outside the army head-
quarters, which faces the
palace.

NEWS BRIEFING


Staff and news services


Russian Communist Partysupporters carry a banner reading “Free Russia from Putin-
ism coronavirus!” and opposition movement flags during a rally in Moscow on Sunday
marking the Defenders of the Fatherland Day.

ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AP

Palestinian rockets strike Israel


after clash at Gaza border

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