Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Israeli Army Raids the Largest City in the West Bank
Wounded Palestinian fighters here who spoke on condition of anonymity said they had received orders not to resist Israeli forces. The Israelis seemed to be carrying out a small number of targeted raids and not engaging in the aggressive tactics and large-scale property destruction that marked other attacks.

The Israeli radio and Palestinian security officials said the incursion began with groups of special forces soldiers infiltrating Hebron dressed in civilian clothes. Two Palestinian policeman, who said they had heard rumors that Israeli forces had entered the city, described approaching groups of men in civilian clothes at around 2 a.m., when the men suddenly began firing on them.

"We started screaming `Arabs! Arabs! Arabs!' " said one of the Palestinian security officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We thought they would stop shooting, but they continued." The man said he realized that the men with guns were Israelis when they spoke Hebrew to one another.

In the Saturday attack on Israeli settlers, when the Palestinian gunmen disguised themselves as Israeli soldiers, one victim said she heard a man shout: "Stop shooting! We are Jews!" to the assailants, who kept on firing.

Israeli military officials declined to comment on the specifics of the attack on Hebron. But Palestinians said all eight Palestinians had died in a missile attack on one house from an Israeli helicopter.

The raid appeared to involve the use of informants and Israeli special forces soldiers, who could be seen roaming the city today with their faces painted in black and green camouflage.

Neighbors gave conflicting accounts of just what occurred, but said that at roughly 4 a.m., a missile from a helicopter demolished the front wall of a house. In the bedroom where the missile struck, a watch sat on a bedside table this afternoon where its owner placed it before going to bed. A man's shoes and jeans sat on the floor nearby. Blood stained the carpet in the corner.

Palestinians complained that people who came to help the victims were then targeted by the Israelis. A doctor who came to the house to aid the injured was seriously wounded when a second missile struck the house, they said. A single bullet had torn through the front windshield of a car that had pulled up in front of the house. Blood covered the passenger seat and its car alarm still blared this afternoon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/30/international/middleeast/30MIDE.html

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