Israeli troops killed Wednesday Ziad Daas, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Daas had been wanted by Israel for alleged involvement in the killing of two Israeli restaurant owners in Tulkarem in December 2000.
Witnesses said Israeli commandos, backed by jeeps, armored vehicles and helicopters, surrounded Daas' hideout Wednesday morning. Gunmen opened fire from inside the building, and witnesses said Daas was on the roof when he was killed by an Israeli sniper. Three other Palestinians were kiiled in this raid, Palestinian security officials said. Another Palestinian was seriously wounded, and taken by the soldiers to an Israeli hospital.
According to Israeli reports, the troops snuck into a building in the city, where the Tanzim members were apparently meeting. About 15 Fatah members were arrested.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops demolished a one-story home rented by a top Palestinian activist accused of having sent several Palestinian suicide bombers to Israel. The demolition came one day after Israel's Supreme Court approved the army's right to raze homes of Palestinian operatives without advance warning.
Thirty-five Palestinian families, whose homes are projected to be demolished under a new Israeli policy, had sought 48 hours warning to enable them to take legal action. In Wednesday's demolition, armored bulldozers moved at daybreak to destroy the house where Yehiyeh Daamseh, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Bethlehem, had been living with his son. Daamseh and his son were in the house and were arrested by soldiers.
Daamseh, an explosives expert, is accused by Israel of having dispatched several suicide bombers to Israel, including one who blew himself up in a Jerusalem neighborhood in March, killing 11 Israelis. The owner of the house, Omar Farhat, was not in the area, AP reported.
Gaza Strip
Palestinians said Wednesday noon that a senior Hamas member wanted by Israel was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. According to the report, Hussam Ahmed Nimer Hamdan was hit by the sharpshooter as he went up to the roof of his house.
Earlier, between 15-30 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, backed by helicopters, raided early Wednesday the northern Gaza Strip and troops shot dead a Palestinian policeman, witnesses and officials said. Additionally, two Palestinians were wounded, one critically with a gunshot to the head, hospital sources said.
The Israeli forces entered the village of Beit Lahiya and moved to the outskirts of the Jabalya refugee camp, witnesses said. They said Israeli forces faced only light resistance as they pushed two km into Palestinian-ruled territory and conducted house-to-house searches for arms and wanted men. At least three Palestinians were arrested.
Tanks began pulling back from the area about two hours after they entered.
A Palestinian was seriously wounded by Israeli shooting in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian security source said. The source also said a strong concentration of Israeli armor had been seen near several Palestinian villages north of Ramallah in the West Bank.
(Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
