Israeli Occupation Forces Arrest 19 Palestinians

10/03/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli occupation forces arrested 19 Palestinians in overnight raids across the West Bank."Most of them are suspected of involvement in anti-Israeli attacks and were wanted by the army or the security services," an occupation army spokesman said Monday.Others were detained for questioning, he said.

Six of the suspects were captured near Nablus in the north, two in Hebron in the south and the others in various towns.

The occupation army also discovered and destroyed eight explosive devices in a village close to Jenin in the far north.

Israeli Occupation army Quits Gaza Zone

The Israeli occupation army quit all its positions in a security zone it had set up in the northern Gaza Strip last week to prevent rocket attacks, the head of Palestinian security in the area told AFP.

General Saeb al-Ajiz said the Israeli tanks which last Thursday took up positions around the towns of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, Jabalya and Bidwe village had pulled back.

An Israeli occupation army spokesman confirmed the pullback.

"Our forces have started pulling back from the sector which they took control of," he said Monday.

An AFP photographer said there were no more Israeli tanks to be seen in Beit Lahia and Jabalya.

Around 60 tanks and armoured vehicles reoccupied the buffer zone in the northern end of the Gaza Strip on Thursday to hinder the firing of Qassam rockets, which are unguided Katyusha-style rockets with a range of up to 12 kilometres (eight miles) and carry a 5.5 kilogram (11 pound) warhead.

But the resistance Islamic group Hamas, which manufactures the home-made rockets, fired four more on Sunday towards the southern Israeli town of Sderot in defiance of the security zone. They caused no damage or injuries.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli occupation soldiers arrest a suspected Palestinian activist