Israeli tanks and Apache helicopters Sunday evening launched attacks on several PA security buildings and residential areas in the West Bank and the GAza Strip in retaliation of two Palestinian suicide bombings as well as a drive-by shooting, which left at least seven Israelis killed and scores injured.
The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported that Israeli helicopters launched missiles at a Palestinian police station in Kabatiya, a town south of the West Bank city of Jenin.
Israeli military sources confirmed that two missiles were fired in the raid, said AFP.
WAFA added that Israeli tanks shelled earlier the village of Tayaseer in the city, injuring at least a Palestinian woman. It added that the shelling damaged parts of an elementary school.
In Nablus, the agency said that Israeli tanks shells destroyed a Palestinian national security building, adding that it was completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were injured in an Israeli tank attack on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, said WAFA.
It said that the strike was one of the “violent” attacks launched by the occupation troops on the Palestinian city since the start of the Intifada late September.
Earlier Sunday, Israeli helicopter gunships launched assaults on Palestinian targets throughout the West Bank, firing missiles at two offices of Fathe movement in and around Ramallah, and a major base of the Palestinian security forces on the southern edge of Jericho. Several Palestinians, including a young boy, were injured, according to earlier reports.
HAMAS CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR NAHARIA BOMBING
The Palestinian movement of Hamas claimed its responsibility for the suicide bombing which killed five Israelis and injured more than 44 others Sunday when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in Naharia, in northern Israel.
Reports said that the Palestinian killed is a resident of Ein Al Helwa refugee camp in south Lebanon, who infiltrated to Israel at Sunday dawn.
AFP said that five were killed, while Haaretz said that death toll reached four.
Israel, meanwhile, blamed an "incitement campaign launched by the Palestinian Authority," for the suicide bombing, a government spokesman told AFP.
But the PA issued a statement, refuting the Israeli claims, said WAFA.
"The Palestinian leadership condemns attacks on civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinians," said the statement, carried by the agency.
The PA also condemned Israel's attacks on Ramallah, calling on the international community to "immediately intervene and protect the Palestinians."
The Palestinian Information Center said that Hamas's military wing, Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, carried out the operation.
The attack was a "natural reaction to Israeli aggression against the Palestinians," a Hamas statement said.
Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post said that security forces and rescue workers rushed to the scene from all over the area and were attempting to evacuate the victims to hospitals.
Roads leading to the area have been closed off.
The station is where soldiers commonly gather at the beginning of the week to return to their bases.
ISLAMIC JIHAD CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR KILLING TWO ISRAELIS IN BUS ATTACK
The Islamic Jihad movement claimed in a statement on Sunday responsibility for a bus shooting that killed two Israelis and injured three others near Jericho in the West Bank, said AFP.
Haaretz said earlier that several shots were fired at a bus carrying school and kindergarten teachers to work at the Adam junction in the Jordan Valley.
The minibus in which they were traveling was not armored and there were no children on board at the time, the army said.
In Gaza Strip, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli troops in clashes near Beit Hanoun, said the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
Sunday's attacks came hours after Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at the headquarters of Fateh movement in Ramallah on Saturday, missing a high-ranking officials in the building located in a residential neighborhood.
One of the Fateh officials in the building, Carlos Zaghlul, said one missile went through a window and the other hit a wall.
"I narrowly escaped. The first missile went by me and exploded. I couldn't see anything and I ran out. When I ran out the other missile hit," he told AFP.
Sources in Fateh told Haaretz newspaper that the attack was an assassination attempt on Mohammed Mansur, a senior member of the movement who was in the building minutes before the attack.
Palestinian witnesses said three missiles struck the building, not far from the Jewish settlement of Psagot. They said the strike caused extensive damage. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli army said it carried out the raid in retaliation for several recent attacks in the West Bank, in particular for a shooting attack Thursday, in which an Israeli soldier was killed, said the paper.
A military official confirmed that the army had used helicopter gunships in the strike.
Palestinian officials immediately vowed retaliation of their own, casting a shadow over the international efforts to secure truce talks between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
"Those missiles that hit our office today will be returned with fire against the occupiers," said West Bank Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi, who himself survived an Israeli helicopter attack in Ramallah last month.
It was "very evident they were trying to assassinate somebody" in the office, added Fateh official Abu Al'ah, referring to Israel's hunt-and kill policy of targeting Palestinian militants suspected of attacking Israelis.
During the day, two Palestinians were killed and two others injured in separate incidents in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.
Israeli soldiers shot and critically wounded a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the stomach as he was walking near their post in the Rafah refugee camp at night, Palestinian hospital sources said.
Mohammad Samir Abu Lebda was shot "without reason," they said.
Earlier, a Palestinian security official was killed and two others were injured in an explosion the Palestinians blamed on the Israeli army.
Palestinian security sources said Ezzedin Abu Issa, 24, who belonged to both Fateh and a Palestinian security service, was killed in a house used by his groups.
The Israeli military added it "was not aware" of the bombing death.
Their death bring to 771 the number of people killed since the Palestinian Intifada or uprising started last September 28, including 592 Palestinians and 157 Israelis.
Israeli troops also advanced into the West Bank town of Hebron and wounded eight Palestinians, one seriously, hospital sources told AFP.
The Jewish settlement in Hebron had come under fire from the nearby neighborhood of Abu Sneina, but there were no injuries, military radio said.
Meanwhile, Haaretz said that a powerful explosive device was safely detonated Saturday afternoon on a main street in the city of Nazareth.
No injuries were reported although a number of nearby homes were lightly damaged. This is the first time that an explosive device has been found in Nazareth, it said.
The unrest occurred on the eve of a meeting in Cairo of Arab foreign ministers on Sunday, who will discuss the nearly 12-month wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
Top Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina has said a decision on whether the Palestinian leader would meet with Peres would be made after the Cairo talks.
In Cairo, the Palestinian representative to the Arab League, Mohammed Sobeih, told AFP that Arafat would not attend the foreign ministers meeting because he has other, unspecified appointments.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expecting a phone call this weekend from Arafat to propose a place and time for a meeting with Peres, Solana's spokeswoman said earlier in Belgium.
Israel government spokesman Arye Mekel said he did not believe the timing of the Fateh attack would influence the Palestinian decision, and that Israel wanted to return to the negotiation table.
"There are two very important goals. One is to respond militarily as necessary, the other one is to see if we can have meaningful dialogue to put an end to this violence," he told AFP.
US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke with both Arafat and Peres earlier this week "to look to the prospect of their meeting (and) to discuss with them how it can be made productive and useful."
But US officials said Peres may have been overly optimistic about expecting a meeting next week, noting that the Palestinians have set tough conditions.
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior source as saying Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had given Peres a "full mandate" to hold ceasefire talks and move forward the implementation of the US-backed Mitchell peace plan - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
