Israel Steps up Hebron Siege

28/06/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: An Ultimatum By Occupation Authorities to Besieged Palestinians Goes Unheeded||Occupation Troops & Besieged Palestinians Exchange Fire||600,000 Palestinians Under Curfew|| STORY: Israeli tanks and bulldozers began smashing holes in a Palestinian Authority headquarters in Hebron on Friday to try to force Resistance men holed up there to surrender, witnesses said. (Read photo caption)

Israel sought to wind up its four-day-old siege in Hebron, the seventh West Bank city reoccupied by the army following a wave of Resistance bombings.

Tank shells punctured the walls of the Hebron complex and an armored bulldozer moved in to widen the holes, witnesses said, after an occupation army ultimatum to the estimated 15 Palestinians besieged inside apparently went unheeded.

An Israeli occupation army spokesman said he had no information on bulldozer operations, but said occupation troops had been exchanging fire with wanted Palestinians inside the Hebron complex.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told army radio that almost 20 of the Palestinians had emerged to surrender since the siege began on Tuesday and had shown the occupation army where "explosives factories" were located.

600,000 PALESTINIANS UNDER CURFEW

Almost 600,000 Palestinians were under curfew in West Bank cities and many more were confined to surrounding villages by army operations.

Another nine wanted Palestinian militants were detained overnight in the West Bank, he added. A member of Arafat's Fatah movement was arrested when Israeli occupation troops entered his house in the village of Hussan near Bethlehem, local witnesses said.

PHOTO CAPTION

An armored Israeli bulldozer demolishes a wall of the besieged Palestinian Police building under tank protection June 28, 2002 in the West Bank city of Hebron. The Israeli army is intensifying its attack on the building on the fourth day of the siege calling wanted Palestinians holed up inside to surrender. REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamo