Two Palestinians were killed in a powerful explosion in the al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah on Wednesday, Palestinian medical sources said. They said nine people were wounded in the blast. It was not clear what caused the blast. The medical sources said the blast might have been caused by a tank shell or a missile.
Elsewhere in the west Bank, one Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire near Qalqilya. Another Palestinian was injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire at them. According to Israeli media reports, the two were armed and planned to attack a military base on the seam line, not far from Qalqilya.
Also on Wednesday, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles backed by helicopters swept Wednesday evening into a town in the northern West Bank, "shooting everywhere" in the streets and surrounding houses, Mayor Ragib Abu Deyak said.
With two Apache helicopters hovering overhead, some 15 tanks, armored personnel carriers and jeeps were taking part in the operation in the town of Seelat ad-Dahar, near Jenin, its mayor told AFP. A Palestinian and three other people were wounded in this incident. Amer Huntoli, a wanted Fatah activist was seriously wounded in the raid and taken into Israeli custody.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, undercover Israeli military unit arrested Mohammed A Natshe, a prominent leader of the military wing of the Hamas in the West Bank. A Natshe was detained Wednesday in Ramallah together with Sabbah abu-Humid, a senior activist in Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Israel Radio reported.
Palestinian sources reported that the troops were waiting for A Natshe as he exited a central Ramallah hospital. The soldiers captured him before leaving the scene. This Israeli operation was conducted during hours when the Israeli army had lifted the curfew on the town for a few hours.
In Gaza Strip, an Israeli warplane slammed a missile into a building near the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday night, the Israeli army and Palestinian security sources said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the strike on the building, which Palestinian sources said was a foundry.
The Israeli army said in a statement that the building hit in the raid was being used by Hamas to produce weapons, including mortars and various types of rockets.
Earlier in the day, Israeli prosecutors charged Nasr Awis, commander of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank city of Nablus, and Thabet Mardawi, a top Islamic Jihad activist in the West Bank city of Jenin, with “murder and other offenses in connection with the terror slayings of scores of Israelis,” the radio report added.
Awis, who was indicted Wednesday in the Tel Aviv District Court, is being charged with “murder, assault, conspiracy and other offenses.” According to the indictment, Awis initiated and orchestrated attacks in which dozens of Israelis were killed and hundreds injured. It said that he was involved in attacks on Tel Aviv's Seafood Market restaurant, on the David's Palace banquet hall in Hadera and on Netanya's Jeremy Hotel. (Albawaba.com)
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