Israel: Raids kill 20 Palestinians, stop suicide bombing
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Monday, October 22, 2001
TEL AVIV Ñ Israel has launched a military offensive in the West
Bank.
Israeli officials said the military has arrested scores of Palestinians
and killed at least 20 of them in raids in several Palestinian cities in the
West Bank. The officials said the result was the foiling of at least one
Palestinian suicide bombing.
The offensive was said to have begun two weeks ago and included a
combined task force of armored units, commandos, paramilitary border police
and the air force. But officials said the offensive was intensified last
week in the aftermath of the assassination of former Israeli Tourism
Minister Rehavam Ze'evi by a Palestinian group.
"The activities were conducted from Jenin in the north, through Tulkarm,
Kalkilya, Ramallah and Bethlehem," Brig. Gen. Gershon Yitzhak, head of
Israeli forces in the West Bank, said.
Yitzhak said Israeli forces killed 20 Palestinian insurgents, who
included members of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah
movement. The brigadier, who said the PA was informed of the Israeli
military raids, denied Palestinian reports that women were also killed in
the operation.
In Bethlehem, Israeli attack helicopters fired missiles near Arafat's
headquarters. Palestinian sources said 15 people were injured in the attack.
Israeli sources said the helicopter operation was meant to stop a
Palestinian shooting attack against nearby Jerusalem.
Israeli military sources said six Israeli soldiers were injured in the
offensive. One soldier was said to have been seriously injured. Israeli
troops have remained on the outskirts of many of the West Bank cities.
Israeli and PA forces also clashed in the Gaza Strip. For his part,
Arafat consulted with Arab leaders regarding the Israeli military operation.
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