Israeli Occupation Army Enters Nablus in West Bank

Israeli Occupation Army Enters Nablus in West Bank
HIGHLIGHTSOccupation Forces Enter City from Four Directions||24 Hours Earlier, Occupation Army Raided Tulkarm|| Helicopter Gunship Fires Missile at Gaza Metal Factory for Second Time in as Many Days|| Netanyahu Says Would Expel Arafat if Elected Prime Minister||STORYDozens of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles swept into the West Bank city of Nablus Wednesday following a Palestinian resistance attack that killed five Israelis on a kibbutz, witnesses said.

Israeli occupation forces entered the Palestinian-ruled city from four directions as helicopter gunships hovered overhead, witnesses said. Tanks fired heavy machines guns in the air as they advanced but faced no immediate resistance.

The incursion was launched just 24 hours after Israel occupation troops and armor raided the nearby town of Tulkarm and an adjacent refugee camp.

Israeli occupation army sources have said Tulkarm and Nablus were being targeted because they had suspected links to the Kibbutz attack.

MISSILES FIRED ON GAZA CITY

Shortly before the incursion, an Israeli helicopter gunship fired several missiles into Palestinian-ruled Gaza City, striking the same metal workshop which had been badly hit two days earlier. No casualties were reported.

Shop owner Deab Fasiah insisted his shop has nothing to do with producing weapons as Israel claims.

The strikes sent massive black plumes of smoke over the city as ambulances rushed to the scene, witnesses said. Rescue officials said several people were taken to hospital to be treated for shock.

The missiles landed in a crowded area of Gaza City composed of homes, defunct workshops and vegetable markets. Several houses were damaged, their windows blown out.

NETANYAHU SAYS HE WOULD EXPEL ARAFAT

In Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday night that if he's elected prime minister, his top priority would be to force Yasser Arafat into exile. But the country's current leader said Israel should not "act in haste."

Netanyahu's remarks, which drew cheers at the Likud party convention Tuesday night, put him at odds with his boss, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has sought to marginalize Arafat but has not made any public statements about driving him out.

Instead, Sharon told the convention in a speech that immediately followed Netanyahu's remarks that Israel shouldn't move too fast on expelling the Palestinian leader.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian police bomb squad officers inspect the rubble of a metal workshop after it was hit by Israeli helicopters in Gaza City, Wednesday Nov. 13, 2002. Israeli helicopters fired rockets into a large metal workshop in downtown Gaza City, witnesses said. (AP Photo/Adel

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