The Israeli military said it began a gradual withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron on Tuesday, a day after troops entered the Palestinian city, killing nine Palestinians and arresting dozens.
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles stormed into the village of Shawawreh east of Bethlehem in a brief search for activists on Tuesday, the army and witnesses said.
The army said it went into the West Bank village "to frustrate hostile terrorist activity originating in the village."
Witnesses said troops imposed a curfew on the Palestinian-ruled village, searched houses and made arrests. It was the second time troops entered the village in two weeks.
In Tulkarem's Nur A-Shams refugee camp, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian Tuesday morning, Palestinian sources reported.
Nine Palestinians were killed Monday by Israeli soldiers in Hebron. Hamas sources said that among the dead was Tareq al-Dufashi, one of the men who was involved in the attack Saturday at the nearby West Bank settlement of Adura, in which four Israelis were killed.
According to Israeli media reports, the other Palestinians killed were Rajeb Abu Shami, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Ahmed Bashir, a member of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard. Two aides of the Tanzim head in Hebron, Marwan Zallum, were also killed during the incursion.
Palestinians said that six of the dead were unarmed civilians, four of whom were killed when a rocket fired by an Israeli helicopter struck a house. Twenty people were reported injured, most by missiles from helicopter gunships, which targeted PA buildings.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo called the assault a provocation by the Israelis. "Their aim is in fact to widen the attacks and reoccupation of Palestinian cities," he said.
Elsewhere, Palestinian sources said that Israeli army gunfire killed overnight a Palestinian near the Kissufim junction in the Gaza Strip. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
