Israeli soldiers shot the three men when they ventured out onto the hospital roof

NABLUS, August 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli occupation forces killed three Palestinian activists in the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, August 22, few hours after ejecting a roadblock on the main highway through the Gaza Strip splitting it into three parts.

Israeli forces shot the room of three Palestinian fighters sheltering in a small rooftop room of Rafidya hospital in Nablus, killing all of them, reported the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.

Palestinian sources identified the three as members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah movement, said the Israeli daily.

Israeli soldiers shot the three men when they ventured out onto the roof, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoting sources.

"In the framework of our activities against the terrorist infrastructure in and around Nablus, Israeli forces operated in the area of Rafidiya hospital," military sources claimed.

"During the operation, a number of wanted men from Al-Aqsa were spotted on the roof and the troops opened direct fire," the sources said.

They said the Palestinian fighters had been hiding on the roof for several days and had been involved in several anti-Israeli attacks.

According to AFP, only one of the three activists was killed and the two others were in critical conditions.

The news agency said it received a statement from the group disavowing the truce declared in June after the Israeli attack.

"The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank have decided to put an end to the truce. No truce is possible after this day; no truce is possible after the killing of our member Khaled Namrudi," the statement said.

The June 29 truce was officially ended by Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements on Friday following the Israeli assassination of senior Hamas political leader Ismail Abu Shanab and two others.

Fresh Raids

Israeli troops, Palestinian residents, peace seems a far-reached dream

Earlier Friday, Israeli occupation forces pushed into the west bank city of Jenin on three fronts and re-imposing a roadblock on the main highway through the Gaza Strip, cutting the territory in three parts.

Israel had only lifted the roadblock near the Qatif block of Jewish settlements south of Gaza City in late July when a three-month conditioned truce declared by the main Palestinian resistance groups on June 29 remained in force.

In Jenin, heavy shooting broke out between Israeli occupation troops and Palestinian resistance fighters early in the day after a convoy of military tanks and jeeps moved into the northern West Bank town, Palestinian security sources said.

At dawn, the army imposed a curfew as it pressed on with its house-to-house searches which resulted in at least two arrests.

A similar, but smaller incursion was conducted in Jenin early Thursday, with Israeli troops and Palestinian activists engaging in a heavy gun battle.   

"No Mercy"

The continuous Israeli escalation came as a senior Israeli official said Friday that Israel will continue to "strike terrorists without mercy", in a reference to Palestinian resistance groups, a day after the assassination in Gaza City of senior Hamas political leader Ismail Abu Shanab.

"We will continue to strike terrorists without mercy, those who carry out attacks as well as those who plan them or order them," the high-ranking official was quoted by AFP as saying, on condition of anonymity.

Rockets Fired Into Israel

Meanwhile, five makeshift rockets of the sort used by Palestinian groups were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel overnight, military sources said Friday.

Two of the rockets hit houses in the southern Israeli town of Sderot causing damage but no casualties, the sources said. The rest landed in nearby fields.

And in another development, a Palestinian security source said Friday that twenty activists wanted by Israel, who had been sheltering in Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound, left the Palestinian leader's West Bank headquarters overnight for fear of a raid by the Israeli army.

"They were afraid that the Muqataa (Arafat compound) would be attacked and the Israeli army would come to get them," the source said.

On August 2, the 20 men were arrested inside the Muqataa by Palestinian security services in a bid to comply with U.S.-Israeli demands to crack down on wanted activists.

A deal to transfer them to a Palestinian prison in Jericho fell through after resistance groups threatened to torpedo the conditioned truce.