Posted on 04/21/2004 1:22:40 AM PDT by yonif
Palestinians report that five people were killed and 13 others wounded in clashes with IDF troops, which entered the town of Beit Lahiya in the north Gaza Strip early Wednesday.
Three of those killed were reported to be armed Palestinians. Five Palestinians were killed in the area on Tuesday.
Three of those wounded are suffering severe injuries.
Hundreds of Palestinians threw molotov cocktails and stones at IDF Givati forces accompanied by armored and engineering units that entered Beit Lahiya close to 4 a.m.in an attempt to bring a halt to the Kassam rockets fired in recent days from the area towards Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip and over the Green line.
Palestinians said that soldiers had surrounded a number of apartment buildings where the families of Palestinian security officials live.
IAF Apache helicopters periodically fired on the area and bulldozers tore down trees.
A bomb was detonated near the troops and IAF helicopters opened fire at groups of Palestinians planting bombs that were spotted by the forces and identified hitting them, IDF officials said.
Five killed Tuesday, ages 17-21
On Tuesday afternoon, as security forces prepared to enter the Palestinian area, hundreds of Palestinians clashed with the soldiers throwing firebombs, stones, and grenades.
Five Palestinians were killed and over 20 wounded and five IDF soldiers and an officer were lightly wounded in the clashes that continued into the evening.
Palestinians identified the five casualties as Khaldoun Abu Al-Jarad, 21, Muatsem Muhammad, 18, Ibrahim Rahina, 18, Muhammad Bnani, 19, and Muhammad al Hinaw, 17.
The clashes broke out after scores of Palestinians, including children, reached the site and threw stones, firebombs, and bombs at soldiers.
Officers also said that during the clashes, Palestinian gunmen mingled among the demonstrators and shot at troops and at the nearby community of Nisasnit. Soldiers returned fire, hitting two armed Palestinians and a demonstrator who tried to climb up onto an armored vehicle.
Soldiers fired rubber bullets at the legs of demonstrators climbing on armored vehicles in an attempt to disperse them, after they ignored warning shots fired in the air, said the army.
Four soldiers were lightly wounded by stones, including an officer. Two were taken to hospital and two others treated at the site. A fifth soldier was taken to hospital after a bomb exploded near his vehicle.
Officers said that on Monday and Tuesday, eight Israelis were wounded by 12 Kassam rockets that were fired from the area of Beit Lahiya.
Four Kassam rockets hit Nisanit, causing damage to homes, another landed in Sderot, and two mortar shells hit Gush Katif, damaging a yeshiva classroom.
Sderot mayor Eli Moyal told reporters after the Kassam rocket attack in Sderot, in which no one was wounded, that he feared Sderot would turn into the Kiryat Shmona of the South.
In the West Bank, security forces arrested Wednesday four Palestinian fugitives in villages south west of Ramallah and west of Jenin.
With AP
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