WEST BANK/GAZA: Israeli army kills Palestinian in West Bank raid, kills another man and strikes Hamas infrastructures in Gaza

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man and wounded 30 others during an arrest raid in the West Bank on Friday night (November 17), as offensive in Gaza continued. Local hospital staff in the West Bank town of Qalqilya said the dead was an 18-year-old man and that several other people who threw firebombs and stones during clashes with troops were in critical condition. An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that troops had fired as a group of some 200 protesters hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at troops while they were on operational duty in the central West Bank town. "We can confirm that troops hit 11 people and that two of them were about to throw firebombs at the soldiers," the spokesman said. He declined to give details of the raid, but said that troops had fired warning shots first. He said that live fire was also aimed at the troops. Local residents said that the soldiers were attempting to arrest a militant from the governing Islamist group Hamas. Israeli troops often enter Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank in order to carry out arrest raids against militants they seek to detain. Residents said that troops had surrounded a house and called on the man to surrender but that after he did not emerge from his hiding place a bulldozer began to demolish the structure in an attempt to force him to give himself up. On Saturday morning (November 18) Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian gunman in the northern Gaza Strip, residents and hospital officials said. Residents said the man was killed by Israeli troops who had taken over a house in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. An army spokeswoman said special forces operating in the area opened fire when they were approached by an armed gunman. In Gaza city, residents estimated the damage left after missiles fired from an Israeli helicopter in two separate strikes destroyed the home of a Hamas operative and a charity office belonging to the group during the night. There were no reports of casualties. It was Israel's latest strike against militant targets since it began an offensive in Gaza in June after gunmen from the area abducted an Israeli soldier in a raid inside the Jewish state. Israel has killed more than 320 Palestinians in Gaza, about half of them civilians, since it began its assault. The residents said the house of the Hamas man was situated close to the home of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The second missile was aimed at a structure in the neighbourhood of Shijaiya, a known Hamas stronghold in Gaza City. The army confirmed the strikes and spokesman said the first missile was aimed at an operations room and control centre of the group, while the second was aimed at a meeting point for militants. In Gaza City, Palestinian Cabinet Spokesman Ghazi Hamad reacted on a United Nations General Assembly resolution that calls for

ITN Source | November 18, 2006

Tags:. .seek. .often. .villages. .destroyed. .approached