Six Palestinians were gunned down and two bystanders wounded during a raid by Israeli troops in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm yesterday, Palestinian medics said. Among the dead was Hani Awidha, local commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the medics said. The Israeli military confirmed the killings. Arafat's chief adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina denounced "a crime for which the Israeli government is entirely responsible." The deaths brought to 4,196 the overall toll since the launch of the latest Palestinian uprising in September 2000, including 3,199 Palestinians and 926 Israelis.
Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters struck a the Gaza Strip yesterday, wounding at least four people and adding to tension in the territory at the heart of a Palestinian leadership crisis. Two large explosions were heard in the city as the rockets struck in the area known as a militant stronghold.
A helicopter fired at least two missiles into a building in Gaza City's Zeitoon neighborhood that residents said was the home of a fighter from the Islamic Jihad group, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state. The army said it had targeted a weapons workshop ..."used by the Hamas terrorist organization and likely by other terrorist organizations." Medics said four bystanders were wounded. Hours later Palestinians fired a mortar that slammed into a Jewish settlement community center in Gaza, wounding six people, one of them seriously, medics said. The Israeli helicopters returned and fired two missiles at the same building in Zeitoon after dark yesterday, Palestinian security sources said.
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