Israeli army invades West Bank city of Nablus

Israeli tanks and soldiers have invaded the West Bank city of Nablus, knocking out the electricity supply in the east of the city.

Witnesses said tanks fired at least five shells during the incursion and cut off access to two adjacent refugee camps. They also said that Palestinian militants detonated two mines underneath Israeli tanks. In a statement, the Israeli military said a curfew was imposed and two Palestinians were arrested. Local doctors said one person was also seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire.

This morning’s invasion comes less than a day after the Israeli army withdrew from the West Bank town of Bethlehem following a four-day military occupation that left the town’s inhabitants under strict curfew. Witnesses said soldiers also entered the Balata refugee camp adjacent to Nablus and were conducting house-to-house searches by breaking through connecting walls. They also said that the Israeli forces arrested Issam Abu Nakr, the leader of the Fatah movement in Nablus and one of the top political activists in the city.

Elsewhere, a Jewish settler in the Shavei Shomron plantation north of Nablus killed a suspected Palestinian militant who apparently cut through the fence surrounding the settlement. The invader, who was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, threw grenades at a kindergarten before being shot dead by the settler. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack.