Israel Raids West Bank Refugee Camp

19 September 2007

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.

Adib Salim, 38, who witnesses said was a civilian and handicapped in his legs and one hand, died on the balcony of his house in Beit Ain al-Maa refugee camp inside the city, Palestinian security sources said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said there had been "exchanges of fire between the troops and armed gunmen in the camp during the night. We identified hitting some of them."

On Tuesday, when Israeli troops began the large-scale incursion, an Israeli soldier and a teenage Palestinian fighter were killed in the camp.

Around 60 Israeli Jeeps and bulldozers were deployed on Wednesday as troops searched house to house for suspected fighters and weapons.

Israeli forces closed off all main gates and the main road leading to Beit Ain al-Maa refugee camp using sand barricades, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the West Bank said.

Curfew

For a second day, the camp's 5,000 residents were under curfew and the sound of explosions and gunfire rocked the area. Israeli troops deployed on rooftops of buildings surrounding the camp.

The Israeli military, in a statement, said that "IDF [Israel Defence Forces] entered the area in order to prevent the execution of... a terrorist attack" which it claimed was being planned by Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

At least four Palestinians were seized in the camp on Tuesday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

Wednesday's death brought to 5,865 the number of people killed since the second Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count.

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