Israeli forces thrust into the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, killing nine people.
An Israeli field commander said soldiers detained about 200 people for questioning. Colonel Moshe Hager told Israel Radio: "The city is now under (our) control and curfew...and we are preparing for the next round of arrests."
He said some of the Palestinian activists wanted by Israel had fled the city in anticipation of the operation after Saturday's Palestinian attack on the settlement of Adora.
Israeli troops ransacked homes, smashing equipment and emptying cupboards, amid loudspeaker warnings a curfew was in force. "They damaged everything. The children were crying," Ahmed Atiya, a 31-year-old Palestinian policeman told Reuters. According to him, 10 soldiers had smashed through his front door. All men of fighting age had been ordered to stand in the street with their hands raised for more than two hours.
"We did not go there to stay there," Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told reporters. "We went there to damage the terror infrastructure and to leave."
Meanwhile, the United States said that Israel should withdraw its troops from the city.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States opposed any incursions into the Palestinian territories and noted that that position had been made clear to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"We believe that Israel should refrain from further incursions and that's a consistent position that we have made clear to Prime Minister Sharon," he told reporters.
"We think they should refrain and withdraw," Boucher said. "Finish their withdrawal and refrain from further incursions. Wherever they are in we've always said they said they would withdraw from."
"That means finishing the withdrawal from any areas they're in now and refraining from further incursions." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
