HIGHLIGHTS: House of Hamas Jenin Leader Jamal Abu al-Haija Set Ablaze||Palestinian Resistance Man Killed As He Attacks An Israeli Settlement in Gaza Strip||Incursions Into Nablus & Al-Beireh||STORY:
Israeli occupation forces pushed back into the Jenin refugee camp in a sweep for suspected Palestinian Resistance men early on Friday, returning to the scene of the fiercest fighting in Israel's recent West Bank offensive.

There were no reports of casualties in the assault, which Palestinian witnesses said ended several hours after it began under the cover of darkness. "It is a pinpoint operation in the refugee camp. Arrests have been made," an army spokeswoman said. Witnesses reported sporadic gunfire and explosions during the incursion into the camp and parts of Jenin city.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation soldiers shot dead an armed Palestinian who approached the perimeter fence of the Jewish settlement of Dugit and threw hand grenades at the troops, the Israeli army said in a statement. (Read photo caption)

HAMAS LEADER'S HOUSE SURROUNDED

In the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli forces surrounded the house of a Resistance leader of the Palestinian Resistance Group Hamas and ordered him outside.

Jamal Abu al-Haija, did not appear, but his wife and children left the house. Soldiers then threw hand grenades inside and the house caught fire, the witnesses said.

They said the armored occupation force also entered parts of Jenin city and that occupation soldiers rushed to several buildings and ordered people to get out. The occupation army said the operation was focused on the refugee camp and that occupation troops were "around Jenin" city.

Human rights groups said Israel may have committed "war crimes" in last month's operation in Jenin refugee camp, a Resistance stronghold where Israeli bulldozers leveled homes and troops and gunmen fought fierce house-to-house battles.

INCURSIONS INTO NABLUS & AL-BIEREH
Israeli tanks early Friday streamed into the Palestinian towns of Nablus and El Bireh, near Ramallah, Palestinian security officials said. They said some 15 tanks had moved into Nablus.

Israeli soldiers opened fire, but no casualties were reported, after the tanks entered the town from two directions, the officials added.

Several Israeli tanks, as well as armored vehicles, also entered the town of El Bireh, near Ramallah, reaching the center of the town, the security officials said. There were no injuries.


PHOTO CAPTION

A house is blown up where the Israeli occupation army said a tunnel was built by Palestinians, leading from the Gaza Strip town of Rafah into Egypt, May 15, 2002. (Reuters - Hando