Israeli raids kill 23

Associated Press

JERUSALEM – Israeli tanks and troops stormed into a Gaza Strip refugee camp and waged a fierce gunbattle late Monday and early today that killed at least 17 Palestinians, raising the death toll in a day of fighting to 23, officials and witnesses said.

The Jebaliya refugee camp raid was one of several major Israeli army operations Monday and overshadowed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s announcement that he was lifting Yasser Arafat’s three-month confinement in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The Israeli army used the raids to round up more than 1,000 Palestinian men for interrogation as it searched for militants in the West Bank.

Overall, Israeli gunfire killed six Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza before the late-night raid at Jebaliya, which resulted in the deaths of at least 17 Palestinians. More than 75 were injured, according to doctors at two Palestinian hospitals.

Twenty Israeli tanks supported by helicopter gunships, roared into northern Gaza late Monday, exchanging heavy fire with Palestinian security forces and gunmen on the edge of the Jebaliya refugee camp.

The Israeli army said the raid came shortly after Palestinian militants fired mortar rounds at a Jewish settlement. It said nobody was injured by the shells.

Earlier, Sharon said Arafat could now move around the Palestinian territories, though he will still need Israeli permission to go abroad.

As in the past, Arafat will have to get Israeli approval to travel outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Arafat wants to attend an Arab summit March 26-28 in Beirut, Lebanon, where the Mideast conflict will dominate the agenda.

Saudi Arabia plans to present its much-discussed proposal that calls for Arab countries to make peace with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Sharon has softened some positions ahead of Thursday’s arrival of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, who is trying to end 17 months of fighting. The Israeli leader said he is no longer insisting on a week of complete calm before moving ahead with a U.S. truce plan.