The State of Israel last week compensated two families of Palestinians Authority Arabs who were killed in 2005 by a Qassam rocket fired by Gaza-based Hamas terrorists.
Channel 10News reported on Sunday evening that the two PA Arab men who were killed worked in the greenhouses of the Ganei Tal, one of the Jewish communities that was later evicted during the “disengagement”, when a rocket exploded near them, killing them.
According to the report, after the two Arab men were killed, their families sued the State for compensation. The claim for compensation was rejected by the Labor Court, so the families appealed to the Ministry of Defense’s compensation committee, which ruled in their favor, explaining that both PA Arabs had legally entered an Israeli-controlled area.
Last week, reported Channel 10, the state transferred a sum of 1.7 million shekels to the families of the two Arabs. The money was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the families through the Israeli lawyer who represents them. He transferred the money through a bank in New York, as direct transfers from Israel to Gaza are prohibited by law.
The rocket attack in question on the community of Ganei Tal occurred in June of 2005, and a foreign worker from China was also killed in the same attack. The workers, eight in number, were in a warehouse adjacent to the greenhouse on which the rocket exploded. Two of them were killed on the spot, and the third was evacuated by helicopter to the Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva, where he died from his wounds. The others were wounded: three seriously, two moderately and one lightly.