GAZA, 17 February — Israeli troops went berserk yesterday killing three Palestinians and wounding dozens others at Al Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank town of Jenin, an activist of Hamas, Nazeeh Abu Assubaa, was killed and three children suffered injuries when a car exploded, Palestinian hospital sources said. Hamas said the activist was assassinated by Israelis and vowed to avenge his murder.
In a shopping center in the Jewish settlement of Karnei Shomron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank a Palestinian activist blew himself up killing two Israelis and wounding 20 people, Israeli police said.
The explosion took place in a sitting area near a pizzeria in the settlement, located between the Palestinian-ruled cities of Qalqilya and Nablus.
In a late night development, a home-made Palestinian Qassam 1 rocket for the first time hit an Israeli Army base in the northern Gaza Strip, causing no injuries but some damage to a military building, an Israeli Army spokesman told AFP.
Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz said the missile was a Qassam 1, a less powerful version of the Qassam 2. Hamas activists in the northern Gaza Strip village of Beit Hanon early yesterday fired two Qassam-2 rockets that landed in an unpopulated Israeli area causing no injuries. Hamas said it carried out the rocket attack inside Israel and threatened similar strikes.
Earlier in the day, dozens of Palestinians from the Al Bureij refugee camp offered resistance and clashed with the Israeli troops, who fired on them. Witnesses said that the Israeli Army had seized a building belonging to Palestinian public security in the area. Sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said that three Palestinians were killed, two 17 years old, and the third a public security officer. The hospital said that at least 20 people were injured.
A Palestinian Authority public security statement said that Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered Al Bureij refugee camp about one kilometer from the eastern borders between Gaza Strip and Israel. The Israeli Army destroyed an olive grove in the area belonging to Palestinian justice minister, Palestinian sources said.
A PA security statement said that Israeli Army bulldozers supported by tanks yesterday razed several areas in southern Gaza city and in central Gaza Strip.
It said that Israeli bulldozers razed a Palestinian controlled area east of the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the southern Gaza Strip.
Earlier yesterday Radio Israel reported that Palestinians shot and killed an Israeli motorist on Friday night. The Israeli man was identified as army lieutenant, Lee Nachman Akonis, 20.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer reaffirmed recognition of Yasser Arafat as the Palestinians’ leader yesterday during a joint press conference with the Palestinian leader after they met in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
