Members of Hamas preparing to launch a Kassam rocket into Israel.
Updated Mar. 29, 2005 4:29
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH
In predawn raids conducted in and around Jenin on Monday morning, soldiers arrested eight Islamic Jihad fugitives, who were involved in attempts to build homemade Kassam-like rockets to fire into Israel.
It is the second raid in less than one month in which terrorists were caught attempting to build such rockets.
During Monday's raids conducted by the Maglan and Golani Egoz units, a soldier was lightly wounded when a bomb was detonated near troops. He was taken to Ha'emek Hospital in Afula.
According to security officials, the cell members had conducted several failed attempts to launch the rockets. The fugitives' arrests do not necessarily signify an increase in attempts by terror groups in Samaria to arm themselves with rockets, a security official said. "We are aware of their existence just as we are aware of the rockets in Gaza," an official said.
The officials were unable to confirm Palestinian reports that among the eight arrested were two family members, one of whom was freed in the recent release of 500 Palestinian security prisoners.
The other was said to have been part of a group of Palestinians permitted to return to the West Bank last month from the Gaza Strip, where they had been banished several years ago because of their involvement in terror activities.
In the previous raid, on March 5, security forces raided a bomb factory in Al-Yamun, west of Jenin, where Hamas members were building Kassam rockets. During the raid, soldiers discovered at least one completed Kassam rocket and estimated that two others had been test-fired. Security officials said at the time that Hamas cells were intensifying efforts to manufacture the rockets to threaten nearby communities like Afula, which is located 10 kilometers away.
Elsewhere on Monday, a Palestinian was lightly wounded when he did not stop to be inspected and was shot by a security guard, near the security fence close to Shekef, west of Hebron. He was taken to hospital in Hebron and Judea and Samaria police detained the guard for questioning.
At the Hawara checkpoint outside of Nablus, a Palestinian man was arrested after he refused to submit his identity papers for inspection and attempted to snatch a soldier's weapon. The IDF officer fired warning shots in the air and the suspect was arrested.
Earlier in the day, a firebomb was thrown at an Israeli bus near Ofra; no one was wounded in the attack.
In the Gaza Strip, shots were fired at an IDF post near Gadid; no one was wounded and no damage was reported.
On Monday evening, soldiers arrested an unarmed Palestinian who was spotted attempting to cross the Gaza security fence, north of the Kissufim crossing. He was handed over to security officials for questioning.
