VARIOUS: ISRAELI TROOPS FAN ACROSS BETHLEHEM AFTER A PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBER KILLED 11 PEOPLE ON BOARD A BUS
Record ID:
645612
VARIOUS: ISRAELI TROOPS FAN ACROSS BETHLEHEM AFTER A PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBER KILLED 11 PEOPLE ON BOARD A BUS
- Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI TROOPS FAN ACROSS BETHLEHEM AFTER A PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBER KILLED 11 PEOPLE ON BOARD A BUS
- Date: 23rd November 2002
- Summary: (W2) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 22, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV ISRAELI ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER OUTSIDE THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY; SLV SOLDIER IN APC; SLV EXTERIOR OF CHURCH; SLV ISRAELI VEHICLES AND TANKS IN AREA (5 SHOTS) (U3) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 22, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV ISRAELI BULLDOZER, ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER AND TANK BEING DRIVEN IN CITY SLV TANKS AND APC IN STREET (3 SHOTS) MV PALESTINIAN CHILDREN STANDING ON ROOF TOP HAS ISRAELI TROOPS CONDUCTING SEARCHES SLV TROOPS DETAINING PALESTINIAN MAN MV SOLDIER TAKING POSITION/AIMING GUN SLV TROOPS IN DEHEISHE REFUGEE CAMP (W4) AL -KHADER, NEAR BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 22) (REUTERS) HAS DEMOLITION OF HOUSE (W5) JERUSALEM (NOVEMBER 22) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHARON FEINGOLD, ISRAELI DEFENCE FORCE SPOKESPERON SAYING "Following the horrendous suicide bombing yesterday in Jerusalem, yet another we had to endure, our forces went into Bethlehem today in a pinpoint operation against the terrorist infrastructure in the city. I remind you that in August this year we had an agreement, an understanding with the Palestinian authority that they would resume control over the city and fight terrorism. Unfortunately, they have miserably failed to do so. And that is the reason we had to go back in there. To stop the terrorists operating from Bethlehem." (U3) GAZA (NOVEMBER 22, 2002) (REUTERS) AV FLARE IN SKY; AUDIO SHOOTING; BODY OF PALESTINIAN MAN BEING TAKEN AWAY (3 SHOTS) (U3) KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (NOVEMBER 22, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV DESTROYED HOUSE OF MILITANT; SLV CHILDREN LOOKING AT DAMAGE CAUSED BY ARMY TO HOUSE; MV CHILDREN CARRYING BELONGINGS AND WALKING THROUGH RUBBLE (3 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 8th December 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JENIN, BETHLEHEM, GILO, AL -KHADER, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / JERUSALEM / KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA AND GAZA CITY
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Crime,Conflict,General,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA4ZLUYF0PGQM7C4SN7JWFPV0VX
- Story Text: Israeli troops have fanned across Bethlehem after a
Palestinian suicide bomber from the West Bank city killed 11
people in the bombing of a crowded Jerusalem bus.
Later in the day, a senior official working for a United
Nations relief agency has been shot dead in a refugee camp in
the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
A senior official working for a United Nations relief
agency was shot dead in a refugee camp in the northern West
Bank city of Jenin on Friday (November 22, 2002).
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
confirmed an international staff member had been killed.
Details were sketchy, but Israeli military sources said there
had been a gunbattle in the area.
The British Foreign Office and UNRWA said the official was
a British national, but a Reuters cameraman who saw the body
said his identity card showed his nationality as Irish.
UNRWA spokesman Rene Aquarone identified the dead man as
Ian Hook, who had been leading UNRWA's work on rebuilding the
Jenin refugee camp, which was virtually destroyed during an
Israeli military incursion earlier this year.
One UNRWA source said he understood the man was hit by a
stray bullet while sitting in a caravan in the agency's
compound.
There was heavy gunfire in the refugee camp on Friday
during an Israeli military operation to seize an Islamic Jihad
militant behind a suicide bombing in October which killed 14
people.
An injured international relief worker reported about
clashes in Jenin and spoke of injured and dead.
Also she accused the soldiers to fire deliberatly.
"The tank had seen me very clearly, it opened fire and I
was hit at close range."
At the scene of Thursday's (November 21) bus bombing
emotions were high. People placed flowers and candles.
One girl expressed how many students feel: "I am afraid to
go to school. It's very weird. Adoma was in my class and it's
sad. It's scary and it's sad."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to punish
Palestinians responsible for militant activities, while the
militant Palestinian group Hamas has defended the tactic of
suicide bombings.
"I wish to emphasise that no-one (involved in militant
activities) will be immune from our serious punitive actions."
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said that the latest
raid was "in violation of all the international agreements
and international laws."
Israeli soldiers were sealing off the Church of the
Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, revered as the
birthplace of Jesus, after re-entering the West Bank city on
Friday (November 22).
Troops surrounded a refugee camp adjacent to Bethlehem
shortly before dawn where they carried out house-to-house
searches for militants. Palestinian residents said nine people
belonging to various militant factions were arrested.
The raid followed a bus bombing, which killed 11 people
including two 13-year-old schoolgirls and an eight-year-old
boy and his grandmother.
In the raid, the Israeli army destroyed the house of
23-year-old Nael Abu Hilayel in Bethlehem, who blew himself up
on the bus.
Bethlehem was declared a closed military zone before the
operation was launched. A curfew was ordered on Bethlehem-area
residents as armoured personnel carriers and jeeps rumbled
into the city and troops commandeered a seven-storey building.
In Gaza, Palestinian security sources said a police
officer was killed by a tank shell near the Jewish settlement
of Netzarim. The army said the dead man had been in a group of
armed "terrorists" attempting to infiltrate the settlement.
At least 1,674 Palestinians and 650 Israelis have been
killed since the uprising broke out in September 2000 after
peace talks stalled. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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