Israeli Soldier Shot Dead in Gaza Attack

20/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Occupation Army Kills Two Palestinians in Tulkarm Refugee Camp and in Southern Gaza Respectively||15 Palestinian Activists Arrested in Tulkarm Area; Two More Detained in Ramallah Area||Israeli Raids in the Hebron Area Continue||Palestinian Security Holds Man for Betraying Resistance Chiefs to Israel|| STORY: Two Palestinians and an Israeli occupation soldier were killed in separate incidents, as the occupation army continued its sweep for wanted Resistance activists while kicking off in Bethlehem a plan to withdraw from some reoccupied areas.

RAID ON TULKARM REFUGEE CAMP

Israeli occupation troops raided Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern West Bank Tuesday, sparking clashes that left one Palestinian Resistance man dead and at least three other people wounded.

Issam Jayusi, a 27-year-old member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, was killed in an exchange of fire, Palestinian security sources said.

The occupation army recently killed the group's Tulkarem leader in one of its worldwide criticized "targeted killings".

Palestinian witnesses had said earlier that four Palestinians were wounded in the operation in Tulkarem, which the occupation army says is a launchpad for Resistance bombers to cross the "Green Line" and blow themselves up inside Israel.

A military spokesman said the occupation army arrested at least 15 suspected activists there, as its tanks and armoured personnel carriers invaded the camp, backed by helicopters.

Since it reoccupied most of the West Bank two months ago, the occupation army has systematically cracked down on Palestinian activists, but has also tried to deter attackers by rounding up their relatives and threatening them with expulsion to the Gaza Strip.

HAMAS KILLS OCCUPATION SOLDIER NEAR INTERNATIONALLY ILLEGAL SETTLEMENT BLOC IN CENTRAL GAZA
Meanwhile, an Israeli occupation soldier was killed by a sniper from the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades near the internationally illegal Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif in the central Gaza Strip Tuesday morning, the occupation army said.

The military wing of the Resistance Hamas group said in a statement faxed to AFP that the attack was in revenge for the killing by the occupation army two weeks ago of one of their members, Hossam Hamdan.

OCCUPATION SOLDIERS KILL 15-YEAR OLD BOY SOUTHERN GAZA

Shortly after the incident, Iman Zorb, a 15-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by occupation soldiers posted near the Jewish settlement of Morag in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said.

The latest deaths bring to 2,451 the number of people killed since the intifada, or uprising, erupted on September 28, 2000, including 1,806 Palestinians and 602 Israelis.

ISRAELI RAIDS IN THE HEBRON AREA CONTINUE

Even as the Palestinian Authority was taking over security responsibility for the West Bank town of Bethlehem, following two months of Israeli re-occupation, the occupation army continued its operations only a few miles away.

Tanks and jeeps raided the autonomous Palestinian town of Dura, west of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, arresting dozens of people, Palestinian witnesses said.

Under the "Gaza, Bethlehem First" plan agreed on Sunday, Israeli forces moved out of Bethlehem as a confidence-building measure aimed at gradually easing the tension between the two sides.

Bethlehem and Gaza are supposed to be the first two Palestinians areas where Israeli troops will pull back to pre-intifada lines, in exchange for a Palestinian crackdown on militants.

Palestinian critics of Gaza First say Israel will re-invade vacated areas in the event of a major Resistance attack, effectively nullifying the deal. Israeli hawks such as public security minister Uzi Landau also oppose the plan, claiming a pull-back will incite more "terrorism."

On Tuesday morning, two more Palestinians were arrested in Ramallah, and one more in Salfit north of Ramallah, military sources said.

PALESTINIAN SECURITY HOLD MAN FOR BETRAYING RESISTANCE CHIEFS TO ISRAEL

The head of Palestinian preventive security in the Gaza Strip said his men had arrested a man accused of betraying the slain military chiefs of Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to Israel.

Colonel Rashid Abu Shpak said his forces arrested two weeks ago the "collaborator" who had guided Israeli occupation forces to kill Salah Shehade, the head of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, and Jihad al-Omarayn, head of the Fatah offshoot.

Shehade, who topped Israel's most-wanted list, was killed together with 15 other people, including nine children, on July 22 when an Israeli F-16 dropped a one-tonne bomb on the Gaza City neighborhood where he was hiding out.

Al-Omarayn, a colonel in the Palestinian security forces, was killed together with Wael Al-Nimra, his nephew and bodyguard, when a bomb blew apart their car in Gaza City on July 4.

Abu Shpak identified the man arrested as Akram Mohammed al-Zatma, a 22-year-old student from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

He said the accused had been recruited by the Israeli internal security service Shin Beth in July 2000 and assigned to follow the two Resistance chiefs.

Zatma will appear in court in the coming days, Abu Shpak said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian policemen inspect Palestinians vehicles on a road adjacent to Dugit Jewish settlement in northern Gaza Strip, August 20, 2002. The action comes after Palestinians and Israelis struck a deal to ease Israel's military grip on Gaza Strip and Bethlehem. (Oleg Popov/Reuters)
- Aug 20 4:09 AM ET