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Israeli Army Threatens to Re-enter Palestinian Areas in Hebron
Israeli troops would re-enter areas under the Palestinian control in the West Bank city of Hebron if needed, Moshe Ya'alon, Israeli deputy army chief of staff, threatened on Friday.
The Israeli army re-occupied the Abu Sneina neighborhood, an area under Palestinian control in Hebron, Thursday night and destroyed two Palestinian buildings before leaving Friday morning.
"The mission of the unit was to climb up to the neighborhood, and blow up two abandoned buildings that had become posts for snipers." Ya'alon said.
One Israeli soldier and 12 Palestinians were injured during the incursion.
Israel claimed that the operation was in response to a shooting incident Thursday evening, in which two Jewish settlers, including an 11-year-old child, were wounded by Palestinian gunmen shooting from Abu Sneina overlooking the Jewish settlements in the city.
About 400 Jewish settlers live, under Israeli military protection, among 120,000 Palestinians in the divided city, most part of which has been transferred to the Palestinian rule under interim accords between the two sides.
Earlier, Shaul Mofaz, Israeli army chief of staff, also threatened that the Israeli army was ready to carry out numerous operations against the Palestinians should the shooting from Abu Sneina resume.
The violence between the two sides has lasted 11 months, during which over 700 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed. In the past months, Israel repeatedly re-entered Palestinian- controlled areas to show its military strength.
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