Israeli combat helicopters attacked four Palestinian targets in the West Bank early Thursday, hours after a meeting of Israel's security cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the Israeli army announced, according to AFP.
The army also confirmed in a communiqué that helicopters had fired at buildings in the Palestinian town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem in reprisal for shots fired at the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the border between annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank, said the agency.
An army spokesman told AFP he was not aware of any wounded, but witnesses said seven Palestinians had been injured late Wednesday by tank shells and rockets fired at Beit Jala by two Israeli helicopters.
The army communiqué said three of the four targets of the combat helicopters were bases of the "Tanzim", a generic term used by the Israelis for Palestinian militias including that of Yasser Arafat's Fateh movement, according to AFP.
The bases were at Tulkarem and Salfit, in the north of the West Bank, and Hebron in the south.
The fourth target was a munitions dump at Jericho, in the east.
A spokesman said the army had not warned the Palestinian authorities of the strikes, contrary to the normal procedure, but said the four targets were in sectors that were normally deserted at night.
The four strikes were apparently ordered by the security cabinet meeting late Wednesday, which was aimed at deciding on a riposte to the increasing number of attacks on Israelis. On Monday four Israelis died in two ambushes.
Sources close to Barak made clear at the same time that he did not want a stepping up of the violence, despite pressure from part of the military hierarchy and public opinion to carry out Draconian measures against the Intifada.
At Beit Jala, the Israeli attack destroyed two houses while the headquarters of Palestinian leader Arafat's personal guard, Force 17, was hit by rockets, witnesses told the agency.
On Wednesday night, three Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army shelling their house in Silwad town near Jerusalem, one of them seriously, Palestinian sources told Albawaba.com.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and heavy machineguns bombarded Beit Jala, near Ramallah and caused damage to houses. A similar attack was underway in Jericho, where a residential area was hit.
Israeli forces blocked the way of ambulances into the attacked towns, the sources added – (Several Sources)
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