September 9, 2002	Monday	Rajab 1, 1423

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GAZA CITY, Sept 8: The Israeli army staged an incursion into autonomous Palestinian territory in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian security sources said.

Four tanks and a bulldozer moved 300 metres inside the Maghazi refugee camp, north of Deir al-Balah, and razed olive groves, the sources said.

Meanwhile, in the northern town of Beit Hanun, three tank shells were fired, causing no casualties, but damaging several homes, they added.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the shelling.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army on Sunday arrested 17 Palestinians in the village of Yatta, south of the West Bank city of Al Khalil, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli troops were hunting a policeman, but arrested several of his relatives and neighbours after failing to track him down, the witnesses said.

The army also nabbed a wanted militant in As-Sawiya, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, before dawn on Sunday, while border police arrested another Palestinian in the village of Illar, near Tulkarem, an army spokesman said.

The spokesman added that West Bank cities, nearly all of which Israel has reoccupied since June, were under curfew for the day.

HIGH ALERT: Israeli security forces were on high alert on Sunday following warnings that Palestinian militants were planning attacks over the Jewish New Year holiday.

Police furloughs were cancelled over the weekend and security forces were put on alert after police thwarted an attempt on Thursday by Palestinian militants to detonate a 600 kg (1,300-lb) car bomb in an Israeli city.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the bomb “without a doubt, could have caused the heaviest of disasters”.—AFP/Reuters