Israeli Army Intensifies Operations Against Palestinians

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 18, 2002

Israeli Army Intensifies Operations Against Palestinians

The Israeli army on Wednesday stepped up its operation against Palestinians following a Palestinian ambush on an Israeli bus in the West Bank in the previous day.

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The Israeli army on Wednesday stepped up its operation against Palestinians following a Palestinian ambush on an Israeli bus in the West Bank in the previous day.

Eight Israelis were killed and about 20 others wounded on Tuesday when Palestinian militants detonated a roadbomb alongside abus near the Jewish settlement of Emmanuel close to Qalqilya in theWest Bank.

On Wednesday evening, an Israeli F-16 warplane fired missiles ata metal workshop near the central Gaza Strip town of Deir El Balah,claiming that the shop produces homemade mortars and grenades.

A Palestinian public security statement said that an F-16 warplane fired one heavy missile at a building that consists of twofloors: the metal workshop on the first floor and an apartment on the second floor.

The statement said that the building was empty when it was attacked. However, Palestinian medical sources said that at least four residents of the area were moderately injured by fragments of the missile during the strike.

Meanwhile, a mysterious explosion occurred on Wednesday evening in the West Bank town of Ramallah, killing at least two children and seriously wounding two others, said Palestinian police.

The police said the residents reported that they heard a huge blast, and when the people rushed to the scene, they found a building destroyed and the bodies of the two children under the rubble.

Some residents said they saw an Israeli army attack helicopters flying over Ramallah shortly after the blast, but others said it might be caused by one of the militants who was preparing an explosive device.

The police has begun an investigation on the the blast.

Also on Wednesday, a special Israeli army unit raided the village of Selat Al Dthaher near the West Bank town of Jenin, killing one Palestinian and wounded two others, Palestinian residents said.

They said that the Israeli army unit, including soldiers disguised as farmers, stormed the village and opened intensive gunfire at the area while raiding the village.

The soldiers shot and wounded three men in the village, one of which died shortly after he was shot, and the two others were arrested by the soldiers. The soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching the area, they added.

The witnesses said that the soldiers were driving Palestinian cars with local licence plates during the operation, adding that the soldiers were followed by tanks and armored vehicles supported by an Israeli attack helicopter.

Palestinian sources said that the Israeli army raided the village in the wake of Tuesday's bus attack to search for suspect militants who might participated in the attack.

Earlier, one Palestinian militant who actually participated in the attack on the bus was chased and killed. One Israeli officer was killed and three wounded during during the exchange of fire.

Israeli troops, tanks and vehicles surrounded one of the houses in the village after imposing curfew on the area, and asked everybody in the house to go out with upper half naked and hands ontheir heads.

In Rafah town in southern Gaza Strip, hospital officials said that two Palestinian girls were hit by Israeli gunfire on Wednesday, one of them a 9-year-old girl. Rafah Hospital reports said that the girl is in critical conditions.

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