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Israeli Army Kills Top Militant By EMILIO MORENATTI, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 18 minutes ago
BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - Israeli troops on Thursday killed five Palestinians, including a top militant who said just a day earlier that he would never be caught, in the largest West Bank military operation since Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip last summer.
The three fugitives from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were hiding in a crawlspace above the bathroom of a Balata house when soldiers ringed the building. A gun battle ensued, and at one point, the gunmen threw an explosive device toward the soldiers. Two soldiers were wounded, one seriously.
At the time of the blast, a group of medics and journalists had assembled nearby, after being prevented by troops from entering the camp, witnesses said. One medic, Khaled Saragic, said that when a soldier standing next to a jeep heard the blast, he started firing toward medics and journalists, wounding three people.
Also, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel charged that soldiers were impeding the movement of ambulances. Late Thursday afternoon, they said, four ambulances were trapped inside the camp.
The military denied that soldiers fired indiscriminately or that ambulances were detained. However, the army said ambulances were checked because of attempts to smuggle fugitives out of the camp.
The military said it was not aware of such incidents, and said all gunfire was directed toward armed Palestinians or those throwing firebombs.
Since the Balata sweep began Sunday, eight Palestinians have been killed by army fire, including the five shot dead Thursday. More than 50 Palestinians have been injured by live rounds and rubber-coated steel pellets, Palestinian hospital officials said. The military said 15 fugitives have been arrested.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the operation and warned it would endanger a cease-fire that has been in effect for a year, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
In Gaza, Hamas backers marched toward the Palestinian parliament building to protest the Israeli operation in Nablus. After winning elections last month, Hamas has taken control of the parliament.
Addressing the rally, incoming Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas denounced the "aggression committed against our people" and expressed solidarity with the Palestinians resisting the Israeli military in the refugee camp. He said Hamas has a two-pronged program for the people: "One hand resists and the other hand builds."
One of those killed Thursday was identified as Mohammed Shtawi, a top Al Aqsa fugitive. On Wednesday, Shtawi told an AP reporter that earlier in the day soldiers surrounded his hideout for five hours, but he and several friends slipped away. "They will never catch me," he said at the time.
Israeli forces have been carrying out nightly arrest raids in the West Bank, rounding up suspected militants, but the incursion into the Balata camp is the largest and longest since the summer pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank. Dozens of army vehicles and hundreds of soldiers are involved.
Israeli security officials have been warning that with the pullout, Palestinian militants would switch their operations to the West Bank. Nablus has been a focus of attention for months, with soldiers keeping a tight grip on the city, which is encircled by roadblocks.
The Israeli military said troops entered Balata after receiving warnings that Al Aqsa and two other militant groups in and around the West Bank city of Nablus were planning attacks against Israelis. Before the raid, soldiers in the Nablus area seized four bomb belts, said Maj. Sharon Assman, an army officer in the area. Such belts are used in suicide bombings.
On Thursday morning, dozens of jeeps patrolled Balata and sealed off the refugee camp of 18,000 people from adjacent Nablus. Balata is a stronghold of the Al Aqsa group, a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah Party.
Al Aqsa fugitives have been moving from hideout to hideout since the army raid began.
Fighting in Balata began at midmorning Thursday when one of the jeeps broke down on the outskirts of the camp. Several teens began throwing stones at the vehicle, witnesses said. Soldiers opened fire, killing a 19-year-old man. The Israeli military said soldiers fired at the man because he was holding a firebomb.
In another area, Palestinians threw stones at a jeep and soldiers opened fire, hitting one man in the jaw, witnesses said.
An AP photographer who heard the shots and rushed to the scene found the man lying on the ground, with blood gushing from a large hole in his jaw. Bystanders quickly bundled him into an ambulance, and hospital officials later reported he was in serious condition. The Israeli military said the man was targeted because he held a firebomb.
Also, a 22-year-old man was shot and killed by a bullet to the chest while he was standing on his roof in Balata, witnesses said. The military said he was armed when he was shot and that he was an Al Aqsa fugitive. |
