- Title: WEST BANK: Israeli troops kill Palestinian militant in West Bank raid
- Date: 14th June 2006
- Summary: VARIOUS OF ZBEIDI WALKING THROUGH STREETS
- Embargoed: 29th June 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVADX7GD7N1X9902RBH64ZZYG1C6
- Story Text: Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant in the West Bank early on Wednesday (June 14) hours after a Gaza missile strike on a van carrying militants and rockets killed 11 Palestinians, nine of them civilians.
In mounting violence, Israeli soldiers during raid on the West Bank city of Jenin killed Mohammed Al-Wash, 26, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, a Palestinian security source said.
The Brigades local leader swifty responded and vowed revenge for the killing.
"Al-Aqsa brigades always revenges itself and it will be fast, but after the assasinating of Al-Wash our revenge will be in 24 hours," said Al-Aqsa Brigades leader Zakaria Zbeidi.
The source added that a second gunman with Wash had been wounded by Israeli troops and was arrested.
An Israeli military source said a force in the area identified an armed gunman, fired and identified hitting him.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli military jeeps had surrounded the only hospital in Jenin where a number of gunmen had entered after Wash was killed nearby.
They said there were exchanges of gunfire between militants and Israeli troops from a refugee camp, which is next to the hospital.
There was no further comment from the Israeli military.
A recent increase in violence has further dimmed peace making hopes.
With Tuesday's Gaza air strike, Israel signalled it would not flinch from targeting rocket squads in densely populated areas in spite of an outcry over the deaths of seven Palestinians on a Gaza beach on Friday in a blast militants blamed on Israeli shellfire.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Tuesday's missile attack "state terrorism". It was the deadliest strike in nearly four years. The high civilian toll was certain to set militant groups, already skirmishing between themselves, on a course of fiercer confrontation with Israel.
Israel said it targeted the van in Gaza because it was carrying powerful armaments which were to be launched at Israel.
Militants have fired more than 100 rockets into Israel since the Gaza beach explosion, the army said. Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of Gaza last year and has said it will not tolerate cross-border rocket attacks.
Israeli military chief of staff Dan Halutz said on Tuesday an investigation of the timing of Israeli shelling of Gaza beach and the shrapnel taken from victims showed that his forces were not to blame for Friday's blast.
Blaming Israel for Friday's explosion, Hamas declared an end to a 16-month truce with the Jewish state.
Hamas, which took control of the Palestinian Authority in March after trouncing the long dominant Fatah movement in elections, is sworn Israel's destruction.
The groups was responsible for nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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