As part of the IDF's new offensive against the Hamas, elite
troops raided a village south of Hebron overnight Tuesday,
shooting dead Hamas terrorist Muhammad Muhr. The soldiers
surrounded a house in which Muhr was hiding, calling on Muhr
to surrender. When he refused, they opened fire on the house,
killing him. His death brings to eight the number of Hamas
terrorists killed in the past three days, however six of the
deaths were apparently self-caused by a "work accident."
The IDF arrested 15 wanted Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
overnight Tuesday, and an additional 12 in the West Bank -
including three women from the Bethlehem area suspected of
intending to carry out suicide attacks.
Israel has been targeting Hamas militants since Sunday.
Israeli security services have received warnings of 46
planned terrorist attacks in the past several days. Still the
IDF on Tuesday lifted a general closure on the West Bank and
Gaza Strip that had been in effect for more than a week, and
allowed 12,000 Palestinians with entry permits into Israel to
work.
Israel was very active on Monday on all fronts, though the
most public were in Gaza as it responded to a huge Hamas bomb
that killed four members of a tank crew. They were killed on
Shabbos when a mine weighing more than 200 pounds exploded
beneath their tank in northern Gaza. One of the dead was a
student in a hesder yeshiva that has lost six talmidim
in the course of the year, Hy"d.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli army
officials believe the tank set off the mine when it deviated
from the path being cleared by a bulldozer that was traveling
ahead.
On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the army
would deal a heavy blow to Hamas. The IDF dropped its self-
imposed restraints before the American assault on Iraq and is
moving vigorously against Hamas in Gaza, including the use of
targeted killings, army sources said Monday.
On Monday, Israeli troops shot a Hamas leader, Riad Abu Zeid,
in Gaza. He later died of his injuries. Soldiers set up a
surprise roadblock and tried to pull Abu Zeid out of his
vehicle. Abu-Zeid pulled out a weapon and was shot in the
head by the troops. The Army said their intention had been to
capture Abu-Zeid, not to kill him.
Abu Zeid was believed to have taken over from Mohammed Deif,
who was seriously wounded in an Israeli military missile raid
in the Gaza Strip several months ago. Zeid was also the
assistant of Salah Shehadeh, head of the Izzadin Al Kassem
Brigades of the Hamas in Gaza, who was killed in the summer
by a one-ton bomb dropped on the building in which he was
staying in Gaza.
Also on Monday, two Palestinians were killed and four others
wounded in exchanges of fire that erupted during an Israeli
military incursion into Gaza City to demolish the house of a
Hamas terrorist believed to have been responsible for
Saturday's attack on the Israeli tank. He was not home and
remained at large. The house was located in a neighborhood
where leaders of the Hamas live, Palestinian witnesses said,
such as Abdel Azziz Rantisi and Ismail Haniyeh, who often
speak for the Islamic group. They were apparently not
military targets of the operation, but it is likely that the
action near their homes is aimed at sending them a message as
well. Sheik Ahmed Yassin lives in another part of the
city.
Witnesses said that after surrounding the building, soldiers
ordered everyone out and took the men away. Then soldiers
sent dogs inside to see if anyone was still there. Before
blowing up the building, the soldiers told residents of
nearby houses to evacuate them and to leave the windows open,
to minimize damage from the shock of the explosion.
Israel has been blowing up the houses for several months as a
deterrent measure. Human rights groups charge that innocent
relatives are made to suffer, but the Israelis believe that
it gives militants second thoughts about carrying out
attacks. Several cases were reported in which family members
stopped bombers from carrying out attacks, fearing that their
homes would later be destroyed.
Six Hamas members, some of them senior terrorists, were
killed Sunday in an explosion in Gaza City. Hamas at first
blamed an Israeli attack, but later said that the six were
inspecting a small remote-control glider which the group said
it obtained for use in new "operations." They still blamed
Israel, but Israeli sources said the blast was probably a
"work accident" caused when the bombs went off accidentally.
Such incidents are fairly common in Gaza, as the militants
have no more respect for their own lives than for the lives
of their intended victims.
Israeli security officials noted some efforts by the
Palestinian Authority to prevent Hamas rocket attacks at
Israeli targets from northern Gaza. On Monday, Palestinian
Authority security officials discovered several rocket
launchers in Gaza near Israeli positions at Netzarim. Israel
later authorized the Palestinians to go in and destroy the
launchers.
Around the West Bank on Monday, troops arrested 26
Palestinian suspects and Palestinians wanted for
investigation.
Despite the violence, there were signs that talks over a
truce to end more than two years of violence might begin.
