Two Israeli soldiers were wounded Thursday morning in a shooting attack by Palestinian gunmen at a checkpoint in the village of Baka al-Sharkiyah, on the 1967 Green Line border, north of the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
One of the Palestinians was killed in the gunbattle, the other managed to escape in a vehicle.
Israel Radio reported that a passer-by on his way to the nearby market was killed by shots fired in the gunbattle. It is still unclear if the dead man is an Israeli Arab or a Palestinian.
An Israeli army spokesman said that one of the soldiers was moderately wounded and the second lightly.
Israel Radio reported that an explosive device was found close to the body of the dead Palestinian.
Earlier, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians and wounded at least 30 others during raids before dawn Thursday into Palestinian-ruled territory in the southern and eastern Gaza Strip, Palestinian doctors said. A total of 19 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in Israeli attacks
Israeli infantry, tanks and bulldozers carried out attacks in the Gaza Strip early Thursday morning, Israel Radio reported. Raids were carried out also in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin, Qalqilyah and Nablus, the radio added.
Gaza
Israeli tanks and troops staged a massive raid into Gaza City, blowing up a local television and radio transmission center and seriously wounding two people, Palestinian security sources said.
Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in another tank raid into a refugee camp in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources told AFP. Doctors in the city identified one of the dead as 20-year-old Mohammed Ammens. The identities of the three others were not immediately known.
Israeli tanks streamed into the east of Gaza City from three directions -- into the areas of Al-Muntar and Al-Shijaieh and heavily populated Hai al-Zeitun areas -- and opened fired on police positions, the security sources said. Two Palestinians were seriously injured in an exchange of fire in the Al-Shijaieh area, medical sources reported.
Loudspeakers on mosques called on Palestinians to confront the Israeli soldiers, and police and gunmen raced to the scene of the incursions.
The director of the transmission center, Khaled al-Siam, conveyed the troops had entered the two-storey building, which broadcasts television and FM radio to the east of the city, before placing the explosives.
Israeli navy ships also opened fire with machineguns on two Palestinian police outposts on the coastal city, the security sources said.
West Bank
An Israeli attack helicopter fired four rockets at a building near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah, slightly wounding one person.
The missiles from the Apache helicopter hit the building used by guests who come to visit Arafat by helicopter, sources said.
Arafat visited the building after the strike to examine the damage and told journalists: "Israel is trying to frighten the Palestinian leaders but it will not succeed. The Palestinian leadership is not afraid of planes and rockets, nor even of uranium." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
