At least 25 Palestinians, including a top Palestinian security commander, were killed in heavy fighting and extensive Israeli attacks Friday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources said that most of the dead were civilians and that there were dozens of wounded. They said that at least 16 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and eight others in the Bethlehem area.
PA National Security Commander in the southern Gaza Strip, Major-General Ahmed Mefrej, was killed by Israeli gunfire early in the morning.
Palestinian sources said that Mefrej was killed by shots fired as he was traveling to the site of a gunbattle between Israeli troops and armed Palestinians. They said that Mefrej, also known as Abu Snan, came to the area in order to prevent PA security forces from taking part in the gunfire. His bodyguard was also killed in the attack and two others wounded, they added.
At least one other member of the Palestinian National Security Forces was among 13 other Palestinians who were also killed in the fighting.
Four Palestinians were also killed in a raid by Israel Navy gunboats on a Palestinian police station in northern Gaza and three Palestinians were killed in heavy fighting around Bethlehem, hospital officials said.
Troops and tanks backed by helicopters moved from two directions into Bethlehem and occupied neighboring Beit Jala and the nearby Aida and Deheisheh refugee camps.
The Israeli deadly attacks came after five Israelis were killed and 23 wounded when a Palestinian gunman infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and opened fire before being killed himself, the Israeli army and ambulance services said.
At least 18 Palestinians were killed and more than 40 wounded Thursday after large numbers of Israeli troops moved into the West Bank city of Tulkarem and its environs overnight Wednesday, and Israeli helicopters and warplanes hit PA targets in the Gaza Strip and West Bank throughout the day.
In Tulkarem, a UN employee -- the first staffer of the world body – was killed since the intifada erupted in September 2000. "Saddened and distressed by the death of Kamal Hamadan," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed to the Israeli government to investigate the fatal shooting of the UN employee and to discipline those responsible. (Albawaba.com)
