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NABLUS, Aug 2: Israeli troops, backed by more than 100 tanks, poured into the centre of the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, killing four Palestinians as Israel hit back for a university bombing in which seven died.
Israeli soldiers went from house to house in the Casbah, or Old City, punching holes in inner walls to avoid exposure to guerillas outside, as they searched for militants, detaining at least 23, Palestinian witnesses said.
The Israeli army said the mission was aimed at rooting out a local network, just two days after the Hamas detonated a bomb in a cafeteria at the Hebrew University in occupied Al Quds, killing five Americans and two Israelis.
The bodies of two of the Americans were being flown home on Friday as the FBI launched an investigation into the attack, which drew words of outrage from US President George W. Bush.
The American deaths seemed certain to complicate U.S. attempts to calm a conflict raging for more than 22 months.
Hamas, dedicated to Israel’s destruction, said Wednesday’s bombing was part of its revenge for a Gaza air raid last week that killed its military commander, his lieutenant and 13 other Palestinians, including nine children.
After vowing harsh retaliation against Hamas, Israel sent columns of tanks deep into the heart of Palestinian-ruled Nablus, which had been surrounded and under curfew for weeks.
Israeli troops exchanged fire with Palestinians as they assaulted their main target, the warren of alleyways in the Casbah where militants holed up and fought fiercely during a month-long Israeli offensive in the West Bank last spring.
Palestinian security and medical sources said troops killed a Hamas member in his home in a village on the outskirts of Nablus and shot dead two other Palestinians in the Casbah.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli gunfire killed an 85-year-old woman asleep in her home near a main junction, her son said.
HOUSES DESTROYED: In the West Bank city of Al Khalil, the Israeli army blew up the home of a Palestinian who had allegedly killed two Israelis last year before police shot him dead. Relatives said 50 people were made homeless.
In Tulkarm, also in the West Bank, Israeli forces destroyed a house belonging to the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber who killed three people in Israel last year, the military said.
Later in Nablus, soldiers blew up two houses, one of them owned by the family of a suicide bomber who killed seven Israelis on June 20, witnesses said.
The demolitions followed a decision by Israel’s cabinet to take action against relatives of militants who order or carry out attacks against Israelis. Israeli officials claim the measures could deter future assailants.
An Israeli general signed orders on Thursday for the deportation from the West Bank to the fenced-in Gaza Strip of two brothers of wanted guerillas.
Lawyers for the men said they would appeal against the orders.
Israeli forces seized control of Nablus and most other West Bank cities and towns following a spate of suicide bombings in mid-June.
The Nablus operation followed Bush’s condemnation of Wednesday’s bombing in occupied Al Quds and an expression of support for Israel’s right to defend itself.
“I’m just as angry as Israel is right now,” Bush told reporters in Washington on Thursday. “I’m furious that innocent life was lost. However, through my fury, even though I am mad, I still believe peace is possible.”
Half a dozen Israeli tanks thrust into Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, and a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire, Palestinian sources said.
On Thursday, soldiers guarding a Jewish settlement in the central Gaza Strip shot dead a nine-year-old Palestinian girl. The army said troops in the area shot back after Palestinians fired on them.—Reuters
