Israeli Troops Move out from Rafah as Three Palestinians Die in Nablus Blast

24/05/2004| IslamWeb

Israeli forces have evacuated forces from Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip early on Monday, media reports said. An Israeli military source confirmed that troops had lifted the six-day siege. According to the source, the troops withdrew from the Tel al-Sultan area as part of a "new deployment" and to "ease conditions for Palestinians" in the area, though they remained deployed in other parts of the city, along the Gaza Strip-Egypt border. The source said the forces had "lifted their encirclement of the neighbourhood," allowing residents to leave their homes to stock up on food, water and medicine, or return to the area after having fled to other parts of the Strip. Witnesses in Tel Sultan had reported seeing Israeli tanks move away from the area which it had surrounded since Israel mounted its largest invasion in Gaza Strip last Tuesday. But troops were still occupying another key section of Rafah, known as the Brazil camp. The Israeli raid in the southern Gaza Strip city began last Monday. At least 43 Palestinians have been killed and dozens of houses have been razed or irreparably damaged, Palestinian sources and those close to UN Relief and Works Agency efforts in Rafah reported. **Three Palestinians killed in Nablus blast*** A huge blast rocked the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, killing at least three Palestinian activists, hospital officials said. The three were identified as Saad Ghazal, a Fatah activist, Saad Zamleh, an activist in Hamas and Saeed Qutub also from Hamas. Palestinian sources said they were killed as a result of an Israeli assassination attack. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Israeli soldiers fire rubber bullets during clashes with Palestinians at the Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AFP)