JENIN, West Bank, 28 July 2005 — A Palestinian teenager was killed and nine people wounded, two of them Israeli soldiers, when clashes flared during an Israeli arrest operation in the northern West Bank yesterday, sources said.
Around 30 armored vehicles and four bulldozers entered the town of Jenin as troops surrounded the home of a leading member of the Islamic Jihad faction, witnesses said.
Yussef Haseef, a 17-year-old bystander, was shot during the clashes and taken to hospital in the nearby city of Nablus where he died, medics said.
Earlier, medical sources said two of eight wounded Palestinians were in a serious condition.
Israeli troops launched the operation to detain Hamzi Sami, a leading member of Jihad’s armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigades.
An Israeli military source said that shooting had broken out from surrounding houses after troops encircled the building where Sami was hiding.
“The force entered Jenin and surrounded the structure where he was hiding. They asked him to come and he did come out, but the troops came under fire from surrounding buildings while an explosive device was detonated.
“Two soldiers were lightly wounded,” she said, adding that troops had since left the town.
While not naming the detainee, the source said that a “senior Islamic Jihad terrorist was arrested and has been taken away for questioning.” Israel resumed arrest operations against Jihad several weeks ago over the movement’s role in a number of deadly attacks in contravention of a truce agreement.
