A Palestinian carrying out a suicide car bombing against an Israeli army post was killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for the attempted attack. The bomber was identified as Muhammad Nahadi.
In the afternoon, Palestinian sources said a 33-year-old man was killed by Israeli fire in Bethlehem.
In El Bireh, south of Ramallah, the army arrested a Palestinian man suspected of involvement in a number of suicide bombings.
Earlier, Palestinian sources reported that in the Askar refugee camp near Nablus a 24-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli gunfire. The Palestinian was killed as he was banging a drum to announce the beginning of the Ramadan fast.
Hamas and Fatah promised Wednesday to intensify attacks on Israeli targets after two senior activists were assassinated by Israel Tuesday night.
The two were identified as commander of Fatah military wing in the Jenin refugee camp and his Hamas counterpart.
Palestinians said the attack was carried out by an Israeli helicopter. Other Palestinians said that the Fatah activist was only wounded and was being treated at the hospital in Jenin.
Palestinan sources said that a helicopter fired an anti-tank missile at a home in the camp, killing Ala a-Sabagh, 25, a commander of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Imad Nasharta, a senior activist in the Hamas military wing.
A Fatah official told the French news agency that there would be a very strong and violent reaction in retaliation for the killing. Prior to the missile strike, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles entered the camp.
Additionally, Israeli troops killed Tuesday night a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip after he approached the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Rafah Yam.
Elsewhere, Israeli troops swept across the West Bank arresting dozens of Palestinians. In Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, more than 100 soldiers carried out house-to-house searches, arresting 35 men, Palestinian security sources said.
The Hamas local political leader, Sheikh Abdel Majid Ata, was arrested in addition to three other members of the resistance group, AFP reported.
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the arrest of nine Palestinians "either on Israel's wanted list or wanted for questioning" in the southern West Bank city, which was declared a closed military area Tuesday. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
