At least four Palestinians were killed in exchanges of fire early Monday, as dozens of Israeli tanks and armored personel carriers and large infantry forces stormed into the West Bank city of Qalqilyah. The Israeli forces imposed a curfew over the blocaded city and cutting off the electrical supply before starting house-to-house searches for suspected activists, witnesses said.
About 50 tanks and armoured troop carriers streamed into Qalqilyah from three directions in the dead of night, thrusting as deep as one kilometer into the city.
One of the Palestinian casualties was a 30-year-old man killed when an Israeli missile slammed into his house. The other death was that of a policeman, killed under circumstances that were not immediately clear.
Additionally, Israeli forces completed overnight the capture of the Deheisheh refugee camp in the Bethlehem area.
The Qalqilyah raid was the latest in a series of large-scale Israeli incursions into West Bank refugee camps and other population centers.
Israeli forces have also taken up positions in around several refugee camps in Bethlehem, witnesses said. Israeli missiles and tank shells hit targets in the Dheisheh refugee camp late on Sunday.
Night Incidents
In a shooting attack at a banquet hall in the Israeli southern city of Ashdod last night, a 13-year-old boy was moderately-to-seriously wounded. The incident occurred around 11:00 P.M. (local time).
One Palestinian attacker was apprehended by police when his rifle jammed; he was identified as being from the West Bank city of Hebron. Israeli soldiers and police launched a manhunt for two other suspects.
Witnesses told Haaretz that two attackers wore military uniforms.
In another incident last night, two home-made Qassam 2 missiles landed in Israeli territory north of the Gaza Strip. (Albawaba.com)
