 |
|
Palestinians abducted by Israeli soldiers in Al Khalil
|
GAZA
CITY, Aug 21 (News Agencies) – Israeli occupation forces blasted
their way into a Gaza town early Wednesday, killing a Palestinian
civilian and wounding four more, news agencies reported.
Despite the Israeli raid, Israeli security officials were to meet to
discuss an Israeli withdrawal from Al Khalil (Hebron), the next step
in a phased pullback plan designed to defuse the 23-month crisis,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel tanks and infantry stormed into the southern Gaza Strip town of
Khan Yunis at 2:00 am (2300 GMT Tuesday), sending residents of the
bullet-scarred refugee camp scattering and ordering the evacuation of
two high buildings overlooking the nearby Jewish settlement of Gush
Katif.
Twenty tanks and armored vehicles, backed by attack helicopters,
opened fire on the camp, after which army sappers moved in and
dynamited the buildings, which the army said were used by Palestinian
snipers targeting the coastal settlements.
The blast also destroyed 15 of small refugee houses in the immediate
vicinity and damaged another 22, Palestinian security officials said.
One man was crushed to death when the blast and falling debris
obliterated his house, Palestinian officials said, reported AFP.
The army said it had "undertaken a search operation in the
suburbs of Khan Yunes after an outbreak of attacks in the
sector." It claimed the soldier killed Tuesday morning had been
shot by a Palestinian sniper hiding in Khan Yunis.
The Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed branch of the Islamic
Resistance Movement, Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The army said it was ordered to "destroy abandoned houses that
are used as shelter or as firing positions" by armed
Palestinians. The operation lasted around four hours.
Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, whose "Gaza
First" plan for a staged Israeli withdrawal has switched focus to
the calmer southern West Bank, warned Tuesday that if the Palestinian
security forces did not rein in alleged “militants”, Israel would.
The withdrawal plan, which began 24 hours earlier with an Israeli
pullback from Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, is aimed at handing
back reoccupied towns to the reformed Palestinian security forces, who
have to ensure there are no more anti-Israeli attacks.
Bethlehem has remained calm since the changing of the guard, but the
killing has continued elsewhere in the West Bank.
In Tulkarem, in the north, a Palestinian was killed in an Israeli army
raid early Tuesday, and in Ramallah, the brother of a top Palestinian
faction leader was also killed later in the day.
Mohammed Saadat, 22, brother of Ahmad Saadat, the jailed head of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was shot seven
times as he tried to resist an Israeli special unit trying to capture
him outside his Ramallah home.
The Damascus-based left-wing group later vowed revenge. "This
crime will not go unpunished," PFLP spokesman Maher Tahar told
AFP, adding that "Israel will pay dearly for its act."
Palestinian
chief negotiator Saeb Erakat described the shooting as an
"assassination" and called for the international community
to send forces to protect Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli security cabinet on Wednesday discussed the plan, which
has been rejected by Palestinian resistance groups as a bid to
undermine the intifada, the Palestinians' uprising against Israeli
occupation of their land.
And
General Moshe Kaplinsky, who heads Israel's central command that
includes the West Bank, was to meet Gaza Strip public security chief
General Abdel Razaq al-Majaida and West Bank police chief Haj Ismail
to discuss further withdrawals, expected to continue in Al Khalil to
the south of Bethlehem.
The
Al Khalil settlers' council called on the Israeli government not to
withdraw troops from the divided city, in the heart of which some 400
heavily guarded Jewish settlers live surrounded by some 120,000
Palestinians.
Israeli army spokeswoman Ruth Yaron told army radio "the
Palestinians have started taking their responsibilities on security
matters in Bethlehem but not in Gaza.
"Our policy is to alleviate sanctions and withdraw from quiet
areas while at the same time continuing to fight against terrorists
where they are still operating," she added, without specifically
mentioning Hebron.
Meanwhile in Nablus, Israeli occupation troops abducted Wednesday,
three Palestinians in Nablus refugee camps in the northern West Bank,
Palestinian witnesses said.
In Balata camp, troops captured Rebhi and Mahmud Senagreh. Their
brother, Muna'em, belongs to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed
offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, and
is on the army's wanted list, the sources said.
In
Askar camp, the army arretsed Zyad Abdel Jawad. His brother, Ahmad, is
a member of the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.
The
army withdrew from the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem on Monday,
but still reoccupies all major northern towns. On Wednesday, it
slapped a curfew on six Palestinian villages near the border with
Israel, Palestinian security sources said.
Hassan Abu Salah, the mayor of Silat al-Harithiyah, north of Jenin,
told AFP two cars were blown up by Apache helicopters in his village
and that two brothers were arrested by troops combing the area.
