Four Islamic militants killed in Israeli raid of Hamas hide-out

By Mohammed Daraghmeh

Associated Press

NABLUS, West Bank – Israeli commandos killed four Hamas members in a raid Tuesday on their West Bank hide-out and explosives lab, prompting the Islamic militant group to call an “all-out war” against Israeli soldiers and settlers. Hours later, a gunman attacked Israelis in downtown Jerusalem.

The shooter opened fire on people at a bus stop near one of the busiest intersections in downtown Jerusalem, wounding at least 20 people before he was shot dead by police. Police said the gunman was Palestinian, but had no details on his identity. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Witness Akiva Harari, 21, said the attacker, wearing a heavy coat and carrying an assault rifle, emerged from a parking lot onto Jaffa Street, downtown Jerusalem’s main artery. “I saw him shoot two women and they fell,” he said. Hospital officials said one of the wounded was seriously hurt.

Pedestrians dived for cover. Some Israeli civilians who were armed drew their weapons, but did not fire. Sporadic gunfire lasted for about 10 minutes, according to an Associated Press reporter present when the shooting started.

The gunman ran, and after a short chase police shot and killed him, said Jerusalem police chief Mickey Levy.

Early Tuesday, Israeli commandos entered the al-Majeen neighborhood in the West Bank town of Nablus. In a nine-story residential building, the soldiers stormed a ground-floor apartment where Hamas fugitives were hiding, Palestinian witnesses said. The Israeli army said a gunbattle erupted and four Palestinians were killed.

Angered by the raid, more than 2,000 Hamas supporters surrounded Palestinian police headquarters in Nablus and demanded the release of more than two dozen Hamas detainees. Protesters burned three police cars, pushed open the compound’s gate and threw stones at policemen, who responded with live fire, tear gas and stun grenades.

Two protesters were wounded, including one who was in critical condition with a bullet in the head. Palestinian police released the brother of one of the Hamas militants killed Tuesday.

Also Tuesday in the West Bank, Israeli troops pulled out of nearby Tulkarem, ending a 30-hour occupation of the Palestinian town of 50,000. During the Tulkarem raid, a Palestinian was killed in a gunbattle and 11 suspected militants were arrested by Israeli troops.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Tuesday that the Tulkarem and Nablus incursions were meant to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians and that Israel had no plans to reoccupy Palestinian-controlled areas.

He denied Palestinian allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was trying to bring down Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. “We don’t have any interest in toppling the Palestinian Authority,” Ben-Eliezer said. “We don’t have any interest in anything other than protecting the lives of Israeli citizens.”

Hamas has carried out scores of deadly attacks against Israelis in the past 16 months of fighting, including suicide bombings. Last month, Hamas agreed to partially comply with Arafat’s truce call, and announced it was halting suicide bombings in Israel and stopping mortar fire.

But after Tuesday’s raid, the Hamas leader in Nablus, Teissir Imran, said Tuesday that “Hamas and all the Palestinian people will not be committed to cease-fire after this massacre.”

In a leaflet distributed to worshippers at a Gaza City mosque, Hamas said, “The series of massacres, including today’s in Nablus, opened the door to an all-out war against the Zionist army and the settlers, by all means and in all places.”

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat denounced the Israeli actions as “state terror being waged against the Palestinians.”

In the Nablus raid, Israel said its soldiers found large amounts of explosives in the apartment, and Ben-Eliezer said the group had been engaged in bombing and shooting attacks on Israelis. Nine suspects were arrested in the raid, the army said.

The Palestinian intelligence chief in Nablus, Talak Dweikat, said it appeared the four slain Hamas members were killed while they were sleeping. Palestinian medics found three bodies lying on a floor covered with mattresses, and the fourth in the shower, in a sitting position. The man in the shower was stripped to his underwear and the shower tiles were smeared with blood. The army said four soldiers were slightly injured, suggesting there was resistance from the Hamas men.

Palestinian officials identified the dead as members of the Hamas military wing Izzedine al-Qassam, including the Nablus leader of the group, Yousef Soragji. Two of the four had been among the several dozen militants Israel asked the Palestinian Authority to arrest.

The army said all four had been released by the Palestinian Authority at the start of the current round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

Leaders of Arafat’s Fatah movement – responding to the Tulkarem incursion and last week’s killing of a Tulkarem militia leader, Raed Karmi, in an operation widely attributed to Israel – also said they were renewing attacks on Israelis.

“I can’t stand in front of the friends of Raed Karmi and tell them not to avenge his blood,” Hussein al-Sheik, Fatah leader in the West Bank, told Israel radio. “We made a decision to fight against the occupation, to defend our land, the Palestinian nation.”

Last week, Fatah gunmen carried out a series of attacks in retaliation for the killing of Karmi, including a shooting attack on a banquet hall in the Israeli town of Hadera, in which six Israelis were killed. Israel has said the Hadera gunman was sent by Karmi’s militia in Tulkarem.

Israel has raided Palestinian-ruled areas many times since fighting broke out in September 2000, but the takeover of Tulkarem marked the first time the army had taken control of an entire Palestinian-controlled town. The West Bank cities were handed to Palestinian control in the 1990s, as part of interim peace agreements.