OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 24 August — The Israeli Army took control of a Palestinian-ruled area of the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday, shot dead a stone-throwing Palestinian boy and fired missiles at a leader of the intifada.
More than 15 armored personnel carriers and military jeeps late last night took over the Palestinian-ruled Abu Sneinah hill that overlooks the Jewish settler enclave in Hebron.
Soldiers also surrounded a nearby neighborhood, while more jeeps made there way up the hill and two helicopters hovered overhead. A firefight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters erupted soon after.
The ancient city, home to 120,000 Palestinians, is one of the most sensitive areas in the West Bank due to the Jewish settlement in its center housing some 400 Israelis.
Palestinian witnesses said Muhammad Zurub, 11, was hurling stones at Israeli troops guarding a Jewish settlement near the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip when a bullet struck him in the heart. Five other youths were wounded.
In the West Bank, Jihad Al-Miseemy, deputy Palestinian police commander in the city of Nablus, escaped with moderate injuries when his car came under missile fire.
Two other people were also hurt. One missile hit the car and one missed it.
Israeli military sources said soldiers had fired two surface-to-surface missiles. The army said it was a preemptive strike against a man it blamed for “a long series of shootings and bomb attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians”.
The United States said yesterday the Israeli government should distance itself from a deputy minister’s suggestion that the security forces kill the relatives of Palestinian suicide bombers. Israeli Deputy Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra made the suggestion on television last week. He has also been reported as saying the remains of suicide bombers should be buried wrapped in pigskin.
“If reports regarding these remarks are accurate, they are offensive and reprehensible, especially coming from a senior government official,” said a US State Department official.
