June 4, 2012

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The owner of a dairy factory in the Gaza Strip, which was flattened by an Israeli airstrike before dawn Monday, called for an international committee to prove his business does not store weapons.

The Dalloul dairy factory, in the al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, was destroyed in the third day of airstrikes on the coastal enclave, leaving one person moderately injured.

Israel's army said it had "targeted a weapon manufacturing facility and a terror tunnel in the northern Gaza Strip," in response to rocket fire on communities in southern Israel.

Factory owner Abu Haroun Dalloul told Ma'an the bombing was the fourth time his factory has been targeted in recent years. The facility was previously destroyed in Israel's war on Gaza in January 2009.

He called on Arab and Islamic nations, as well as the European Union, to form a committee to prove his factory does not store weapons.

The business sustained an estimated loss of $300,000 after Sunday's strike, Dalloul said, noting he had just purchased a new processor at a cost of $80,000.

"We call on the whole world to protect us. My factory makes food and yogurt. Why is it being bombed like this?" he said.

"If it stored or manufactured weapons, it would not have been placed in a residential neighborhood, where most of the houses nearby belong to my relatives," he continued.

One neighbor, Um Basem al-Shanshiri, said Sunday's bombing caused panic and terror amongst the sleeping children in the area.

"All our neighbors' houses were destroyed in the Israeli bombings, we are living in the street now," she told Ma'an.

Three days of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have injured 13 Palestinians, with two men later dying of their wounds.

Gaza-based rights group Al-Mezan said nine houses were partially damaged, and one house was destroyed in the bombings. A poultry and cattle farm, a water well, a carpentry shop, and a storeroom were also damaged, it said.

The attacks started after a Palestinian gunman shot dead an Israeli soldier on the Gaza border on Friday. The Palestinian was also killed in the clash.

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