Israeli troops kill five in West Bank strikes

ISRAELI troops traded gunfire with Palestinians yesterday and arrested 50 suspected terrorists after the army swept into the West Bank City of Nablus backed by 150 armoured vehicles in a retaliatory strike for several Palestinian attacks on Israel.

In overnight clashes and army operations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, five Palestinians were killed and at least six houses were destroyed. Also, Israeli officials approved orders to expel two relatives of suspected Palestinian attackers from the West Bank to Gaza.

Early yesterday, an El Al Israel Airlines plane reached New York, carrying the bodies of two of the five American victims of the Hebrew University bombing, in which seven people died and more than 80 were wounded on Wednesday.

Israeli troops entered the narrow alleyways of the Old City of Nablus early yesterday, residents said.

Two Palestinian gunmen were killed.

May Fataier, 16, who was shot in the leg, said the armoured vehicles began arriving at about 2am, and there was “shooting in all directions.”

“I heard someone screaming and went out of the house and a soldier opened fire at me and I was injured,” she said from hospital.

The Israeli military surrounded the Old City, conducting searches and arresting about 50 men. The suspects were handcuffed and blindfolded before being taken away on army buses.

The military said it found and blew up two explosives laboratories.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called the Israeli operation “a new massacre. I need an answer from the whole United Nations: is this acceptable?” he said.

Mr Arafat’s remarks came a day after the UN issued a lengthy report saying there was no evidence to support Palestinian claims of an Israeli massacre in Jenin during fighting in April.