Major Israeli incursion into Nablus 48 hours after Barak visit

Date: 03 / 01 / 2008 Time: 09:30

Nablus – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation forces stormed Rafedia Hospital and besieged other hospitals in Nablus on Thursday morning in a major incursion into the northern West Bank city, just 24 hours after Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and his Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, had visited the volatile city.

Ma'an's correspondent said that more than 70 Israeli military vehicles entered Nablus from all directions, declaring the old city of Nablus a closed military zone preventing citizens' and medical staff from entering the area.

He said that Israeli occupation forces arrested four Palestinians - twenty-year-old Ahmad Dhoqan, from Balata refugee camp, thirty-year-old Rami Al-Qadi, also from Balata, twenty-year-old Mahir Mabruka, from the old city of Nablus and sixteen-year-old Ayid Abdul-Rahim, from the village of Zuwata, west of Nablus.

Israeli sources also mentioned that the invading Israeli occupation forces wounded a Palestinian militant in the Al-Qaysariyya neighbourhood of the old city, before storming Rafedia Hospital and confiscating the weapons belonging to the hospital's security guards. Then they besieged other hospitals in Nablus looking for the wounded gunman.

The number of Palestinians injured later rose to 24. Amongst those was the distributor of Al-Quds daily newspaper 43-year-old Mamduh Abdul-Haq. Two other citizens were injured near the eastern graveyard. They were named as 23-year-old Mahir Talih, who received a gunshot to the head, and 16-year-old Khalid Al-'Amudi, who was slightly injured. Twenty others sustained different injuries ranging from the effects of tear gas to being hit by rubber bullets.

Ma'an's reporter added that the invading Israeli troops attacked Palestinian medics and ambulances with live ammunition and rubber bullets. He said medic, Ahmad Jibril, received a rubber bullet to his back, while medics Diya' Balbisi and Tariq As-Sabuh were both wounded by Israeli gunfire.

Moreover, the Israeli soldiers arrested two other medics, Khalid Ba'ara and Sa'id Al-Masri.

The director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Service Dr Ghassan Hamdan told our correspondent that the Israeli forces prevented his attempts to evacuate injured people, and that an Israeli military jeep deliberately hit his car.

The governor of Nablus Dr Jamal Muhaisin said that the Israeli incursion was meant to frustrate the Palestinian plan to maintain security in Nablus. He described the military operation as unjustified, especially after the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades decided to halt its military activity at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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