Israeli troops, backed by helicopters, were searching Saturday the southern West Bank area for the Palestinian gunmen who killed four settlers Friday afternoon near the West bank city of Hebron. According to Israeli sources, the Palestinians are believed to have set out from the Palestinian town of Yatta, near the site of the shootings, and the Israeli army imposed a curfew on this town.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed the attack in revenge for the Gaza air strike which killed Hamas commander Salah Shehade, his bodyguard and 13 civilians, including nine children. "It is the first retaliation to the massacres carried out by the Zionists, the most recent one being of the children and the martyr Salah Shehade in Gaza City," the group said in a statement.
In the Gaza Strip, an Israeli soldier was wounded by Palestinian gunfire and two mortar bombs landed on a Jewish settlement, causing minor damage, the army said.
Also in Gaza City, some 5,000 supporters of Hamas held Friday a demonstration and promised to avenge Shehade. "Our response will be like an earthquake," said senior Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, adding that the rally was a pledge of allegiance to the new chief of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who was not named.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned Friday's attack and expressed concern at the continuation of violence. Annan said that nothing could justify hurting civilians, and reiterated his call on the sides to return to the negotiations table, to find a permanent solution for the conflict.
For its part, Israel said it wanted the international community to condemn the Palestinian shooting attack which killed the four settlers as vigorously as it did for the Israeli raid, a government spokesman said. "We were condemned for the elimination of Shehade ... The least we are expecting is the same international condemnations for this act of terrorism," Avi Pazner told AFP. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
