Israeli troops kill Fatah fighter

29/06/2007| IslamWeb

Israeli troops have killed a Palestinian from the Fatah movement on the second day of a large-scale military raid targeting armed loyalists of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.

 

An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers had shot the Palestinian on Friday as he fled from the troops in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus.

 

  Officials of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah said the man, who was 28, had belonged to their group.

They added that Israeli soldiers had shot him as he fled arrest. Medics also confirmed he had been killed.

 In response to Friday's killing, Allah Sanakeh, a spokesman for the group, said the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades would not honor Abbas's decree of earlier this week to hand over their weapons, saying they needed to continue to respond to Israeli incursions.

Disarmament

Abbas had said he would no longer permit Palestinians to bear illegal weapons, though it was not clear how he intended to implement the decision.

The Israeli raid signaled Tel Aviv would continue to pursue Fatah fighters despite its pledges to bolster Abbas as he tries to stabilize his hold in the West Bank after Hamas movement seized control of the Gaza Strip two weeks ago.

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, has accused Israel of trying to undermine Abbas's Western-backed emergency cabinet by conducting the raid despite the Palestinian leader's vows to take his own steps to disarm gunmen.

Fighting

Israel launched the raid in the Nablus area on Thursday, sending in 50 armored vehicles, clamping a curfew on the city centre and conducting house-to-house searches for Palestinians suspected of involvement in violence against Israel.

In fighting on Thursday, Israel fired rubber coated steel bullets that injured seven Palestinians, and five Israeli soldiers were also wounded in the violence, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

Israel has also renewed raids against Hamas strongholds in Gaza, killing 12 Palestinians, most of whom were gunmen, but also including a 12-year-old boy, in fighting in the coastal area on Wednesday.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli soldier in Nablus