Palestinian sources said Tuesday evening that an Israeli Apache helicopter missile attack on a car killed three Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bituniya, west of Ramallah. It is possible that a fourth man travelling in the car was hit in the attack.
The sources said that the men killed were Muhand Dirya Abu Halawa, an aide to Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, Omar Kaidan, the body guard of the head of the Force 17 presidential guard in Ramallah Mahmoud Damara (Abu Awad) and Muhammad Fawzi Murar, a member of Force 17.
Israeli helicopters also attacked Palestinian targets Tuesday evening in Ramallah and and Tulkarem, and in the Gaza Strip.
Missiles were fired at the main Palestinian security compound in Gaza City, witnesses said. The missiles hit the Ansar-2 facility near the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Qassam Rockets
Earlier, an Israeli boy was moderately wounded and his mother suffered light injuries when Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed on a house in the southern Israeli development town of Sderot late Tuesday afternoon.
Shortly before this attack, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced that the security cabinet, which met for almost four hours, decided to maintain continuous military pressure on the Palestinian Authority, particularly in the city of Ramallah.
Tuesday was another bloody day in the Middle East, where five Israelis were killed in three separate attacks on Tuesday morning and at least one Palestinian security member was killed when Israeli forces stormed into a West Bank village near Hebron.
In addition, Israeli planes and helicopters carried out air strikes on various Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the afternoon, Israeli Apache helicopters carried out air raids on Palestinian command centers in Nablus and Ramallah.
Tel Aviv
Three Israelis were killed and 15 others injured, one seriously, early Tuesday morning in a Palestinian attack on two Tel Aviv restaurants.
Around 2.15 A.M., a Palestinian gunman opened with an M-16 assault rifle from the "Ma'ariv" bridge on the Seafood Market restaurant and the next door restaurant, a main Tel Aviv artery. Channel Two TV reported that when the Palestinian's weapon jammed, he went into the Seafood Market and began stabbing the restaurant-goers. The three Israelis were stabbed to death, Haaretz reported.
One of the clients in the Seafood Market, shot and killed the gunman.
Police also said the gunman was wearing an explosive belt which did not detonate. "He also apparently tried to throw a grenade, but it did not explode," Tel Aviv police commander Yossi Sedbon told Israel Radio.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group associated with Palestinain leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, claimed responsibility for this attack. The attacker was identified as Ibrahim Mohammad Hasuna, a resident of the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
In a call to Reuters, the group said the attack came "in retaliation for the massacre of the women and children in Ramallah and the massacres in Jenin."
It was referring to the Israeli army's killing of 20 Palestinians Monday, including the wife of a Hamas activist and their three children, killed by an Israeli tank shell fired on two cars in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Afula Attack
A suicide bombing attack took place in the northern city of Afula. The Palestinian bomber blew himself up in a bus. A total of 18 Israelis were injured and one was killed.
The bus was traveling from Upper Nazareth to Tel Aviv and was picking up passengers at the Afula central bus station when the explosion occurred.
Police had set up roadblocks around Afula earlier Tuesday, following specific warnings of Palestinian attacks.
The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for this attack, threatening more attacks.
The group's armed wing, the Jerusalem Brigades, named the suicide bomber as Abdel Karim Issa Khalil Tahayneh, 21.
Shooting Attack
Earlier, two Israeli motorists sustained serious wounds in a shooting attack on the Bethlehem bypass road near the West Bank village of Husan. One of the occupants died later of her wounds.
Palestinian gunmen fired at Israeli security forces who searched the vicinity for the attackers. Exchanges of gunfire continued throught the morning.
An Israel Television Channel One reporter was shot and sustained minor wounds during the shooting in the area.
Sur Baher School
Meanwhile, an unknown radical Jewish group has sent the Israeli police a beeper message indicating a bomb exploded in a Palestinian schoolhouse in Sur Baher village on the edge of Jerusalem.
The unknown organization said the alleged bombing was in revenge for Saturday night's suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem’s Beit Yisrael neighborhood in which 10 Israelis were killed.
Three bombs were discovered in a sewage pipe in the school-yard. One of the bombs exploded, wounding a Palestinian teacher and seven children.
The school's 600 students were evacuated from the site and police searched the area for additional devices. A few hours later, local angered residents stoned the Israeli police forces in Sur Baher.
Israeli Raids
Israeli helicopter gunships fired at least four missiles at the headquarters of the Palestinian National Security Forces in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, Palestinian security sources said.
Later in the day, a huge blast of undetermined origin was reported in the northern Gaza Strip's Shati refugee camp.
Sixteen Palestinians were wounded in the explosion, two of them were in critical condition.
The blast occurred in a building housing a mechanic workshop. A fire subsequently broke out in the otherwise abandoned structure.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops raided the city of Hebron and a nearby town, killing one Palestinian and wounding 10 others in gun battles, Palestinian security and hospital sources said.
Israeli troops entered the town of Dura, south of Hebron, with bulldozers and tanks and demolished a house. Gun battles followed in which Muhammad Abdallah al-Atawinah, a member of the Presidential Security Force-17, was killed and five wounded.
Troops also entered the Palestinian-controlled area in the city of Hebron. Five Palestinians were hurt, including a 13-year-old girl who was critically wounded, hospital sources said. Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
