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Israel presses raid into northern West Bank city
AFP, January 5,
2008
NABLUS, Jan 5,
2008 (AFP) - Israel expanded a massive military operation in
the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday and placed
the city centre under curfew, Israeli and Palestinian
officials said.
"The 70,000
people who live in the city centre and the neighbourhoods
around it have been placed under a curfew," a Palestinian
security official told AFP.
"At least four
Palestinians have been wounded by rubber bullets on Saturday
and 35 have been arrested since Thursday," the official
added.
An Israeli army
spokesman confirmed that a curfew had been imposed, saying
it was to protect civilians living in the crowded ancient
quarter of the city. However he said only 19 people had been
arrested so far.
On Thursday
dozens of Israeli army jeeps rolled in, aiming to arrest
wanted militants in a city where the Palestinian Authority
has recently deployed hundreds of forces as part of an
ambitious security crackdown.
Meanwhile
Palestinian security forces detained at least 33 Hamas
members across the West Bank, the Islamist movement said in
a statement on Saturday.
A Palestinian
security official confirmed the arrests but said that all
but 15 of those arrested were released after questioning.
West Bank
security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas
have arrested scores of Hamas members in recent months
following the movement's bloody seizure of power in the Gaza
Strip in June 2007.
Although it
supports the Palestinian security plan, Israel has
neverthless said it reserves the right to launch its own
operations inside Palestinian towns and villages to counter
militant activity. |
