Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles into Gaza City on Thursday, destroying two cars and killing at least four people, Palestinian witnesses and medical officials said.
They said the air strike took place in Gaza's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, a stronghold of Hamas.
Four Palestinian, Israeli officer killed
Four Palestinians had been killed by Israeli troops Thursday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An Israeli officer was killed in a Palestinian ambush near Tulkarem.
Among the dead was a 14-month-old baby girl whom Palestinians said died after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron. The infant, Gharam Manaa, was in the market with her grandmother when the tear gas hit, witnesses said. The grandmother carried the baby, wrapped in blankets, to an ambulance.
Three adults also inhaled tear gas and were lightly injured. A fourth person was hurt by a rubber bullet.
According to Palestinian sources in the West Bank city of Jenin, a 52-year-old man was killed by Israeli gunfire while in his house.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, an Israeli officer from the naval commando unit was shot and killed by Palestinian fire as the unit he was leading was carrying out searches for wanted Palestinians in the West Bank village of Kfar Labed near Tulkarem.
According to media reports, Nashat Jbarah, a Hamas activist hiding in a cave opened fire on the Israeli patrol, hitting the officer, who later died of his wounds. The Hamas member was killed later by Israeli fire.
Israeli security forces arrested the head of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank town of Qalqilya, Israel Radio reported Thursday. Nidal Haniyyeh has been on Israel's wanted list for eight years.
Undercover troops arrested him in a hospital where he worked as a security guard. Over night the Israeli army arrested 15 other "wanted" Palestinians in the West Bank. Nine were caught in Tulkarem, the rest were captured in Jenin and a village near Ramallah.
In Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers killed an armed Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip when they came across two Palestinians close to the settlement of Elei Sinai. In the ensuing gunfight one Palestinian, a Hamas member, was killed while the second managed to escape, Israel Radio reported. Soldiers found a Kalashnikov assault rifle next to the body of the killed Palestinian.
Later, Palestinian sources said that at least 30 Israeli tanks and two armored bulldozers had entered the Palestinian-ruled area of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Troops ordered residents to evacuate a building apparently about to be demolished and the bulldozers began tearing up agricultural land.
Sharon
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon described growing criticism by the Bush administration of the Israeli siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound as a disagreement among good friends and said recent "terrorist" attacks in Tel Aviv and Hebron are part of a Palestinian effort to strain Israel's relationship with America ahead of a US attack on Iraq.
In a two-hour interview to the Jerusalem Post, Sharon said the Palestinians are attempting "to escalate the terror attacks before a possible US action in Iraq. Their operating assumption is that the closer we come to a US attack in Iraq, the more difficult it will be for Israel to respond to terrorism. They understand that Israel does not want to cause difficulties for the US."
As for the siege of Arafat's headquarters compound Sharon said, "A great deal of thought went into the operation in Ramallah. It is part and parcel of our strategy to prevent the escalation of terrorism and reduce the Palestinians' ability to conduct operations."
Meanwhile, according to Israeli sources, Israel will try and renew talks Thursday with Palestinian Authority officials over the standoff at Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah.
Palestinians called off talks set for Wednesday to end a weeklong Israeli siege, complaining that Israel would not allow international negotiators to meet Arafat first.
Hamas
And in Damascus, a leader of Hamas vowed suicide attacks against Israel would continue, saying his movement did not fear a retaliatory offensive on the Gaza Strip.
"The intifada and the resistance in all their forms will continue, including martyrdom operations that are a legitimate right of the Palestinian people," said Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' political bureau, at a press conference.
Speaking on Wednesday, he added Hamas "does not fear" an Israeli retaliation against the Gaza Strip where the movement's headquarters are located. "The situation in Gaza will be no different than in the West Bank -- the Palestinians will suffer large losses but the enemy will also pay dearly," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister "Ariel Sharon can threaten the Palestinians as he wishes, continue to murder and expel them, but he cannot stop the resistance," Meshaal added.
"We are being vigilant, but the battle (with Israel) has opened, and will end with the victory of the Palestinian people," Meshaal added. "We are certain the resistance will lead to the realization of our national goals." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
