Five killed in Israeli raid

Five Palestinians were killed today when Israeli soldiers swept through the West Bank town of Tulkarem.

One of the dead was a leading militant and another a teenager who had climbed on top of an armoured vehicle, Palestinians said.

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers tried to arrest Tarek Zaghal, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia, wounding him as he tried to escape.

Later he died of his wounds, according to Palestinians said. The Al Aqsa group is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah.

Near Tulkarem, two Palestinians were killed when their car crashed after running through an Israeli army roadblock, Israel Radio reported.

Israel is maintaining control of most of the main West Bank population centres after an incursion in mid-June, a response to Palestinian suicide bomb attacks inside Israel.

Curfews are in force much of the time, confining hundreds of thousands of people to their homes.

Palestinians said a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed when he climbed on top of an Israeli armoured vehicle in the centre of Tulkarem. The military said soldiers shot at a Palestinian who threw a firebomb at a tank, endangering soldiers.

Another Palestinian, a night watchman, was shot dead at his post in front of a building, Palestinians said.

Tulkarem is on the line between Israel and the West Bank, 18 miles west of the Palestinian city of Nablus and nine miles east of the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.

In Nablus, about 100 Palestinians demonstrated against the protracted Israeli occupation. A woman was hurt when soldiers opened fire, Palestinians said. The army had no comment.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers exchanged fire with armed Palestinians who were apparently trying to infiltrate into the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, settlers said.

Israel Radio reported that two Palestinians entered an abandoned building sometimes used as a post by Israeli soldiers. It was empty at the time, and soldiers surrounded the structure after the infiltration, the radio said.

In the village of Al Khader, outside Bethlehem, Israeli special forces arrested Abdel Mahdi Ramadan, a leader of the Al Aqsa group. Ramadan was responsible for organising attacks inside Israel, the army said.

At least 19 Palestinians were arrested in other West Bank locations, the military said. Palestinians said a top Hamas activist was detained in Hebron.

Meanwhile, Etti Galia, a Jewish mother of seven who was killed in a Palestinian ambush in the West Bank, was buried today at Kochav Hashachar the Jewish settlement where she lived, east of Ramallah. Galia, 48, was killed as she drove home on Monday night.