Only hours after it was announced yesterday that Yasser Arafat was free to leave Ramallah, IDF forces entered and took over most of the city in yet another anti-terrorism offensive. Golani and Nachal brigades, together with armored forces and elite units with combat helicopter coverage, penetrated the city from three different directions. The methods and goals of the ongoing action are similar to those in other recent offensives: house-to-house searches for wanted terrorists, explosives labs, weapons and ammunition. The forces met opposition in the morning hours, and two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded from one of about ten anti-tank shells fired at the Israelis. The number of Palestinians killed in the battles stands at 26.
The forces were instructed not to harm Arafat or Tanzim head Marwan Barghouti, although they are encircling the home of Barghouti\'s colleague Hussein a-Sheikh. IDF bulldozers, inside Ramallah for the first time in a long while, razed the home of Wafa Idris, the woman who perpetrated the last Jaffa Rd. attack in Jerusalem. Hundreds of men were rounded up for questioning, as in Tul Karem and Dehaishe in previous days.
The forces were instructed not to harm Arafat or Tanzim head Marwan Barghouti, although they are encircling the home of Barghouti\'s colleague Hussein a-Sheikh. IDF bulldozers, inside Ramallah for the first time in a long while, razed the home of Wafa Idris, the woman who perpetrated the last Jaffa Rd. attack in Jerusalem. Hundreds of men were rounded up for questioning, as in Tul Karem and Dehaishe in previous days.