IOF troops kidnap wife, sons of wanted activist

7 August 2007

TULKARM, (PIC)-- IOF troops at dawn Tuesday kidnapped the wife and two sons of a wanted Hamas activist in the village of Ektaba, Tulkarm district, after failing to arrest him, locals reported.

Eyewitnesses reported that the soldiers broke into the home of Omar Abu Jaber, 45, one of the Hamas political leaders in the village, and thoroughly searched it before kidnapping his wife and both his sons Jaber and Osama along with his niece, son-in-law and two other young men in the village.

The Abu Jaber family got accustomed to such IOF storming of their home at the pretext of looking for Omar. They have been the target of repeated humiliation and threats that included a threat to kill Omar, who has been wanted for five years, if he did not turn himself in.

In Bala'a, another village in Tulkarm district, IOF soldiers burst into many homes and kidnapped three youths, witnesses said, adding that nine IOF armored vehicles stormed the village at 0200 am local time firing sonic bombs to terrorize the villagers.

The IOF soldiers also rounded up eight Palestinians in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday in the villages and refugee camps of Nablus, mostly affiliated with the Hamas Movement, including a teenager.