The IDF continued its wide-scale operations in PLO-controlled areas over the last 24 hours. Troops are currently operating in Bethlehem, Beit Jalla, Kalkilya, Ramallah and other towns and villages throughout Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza).
Early this morning IDF forces entered parts of Bethlehem, south of the capital. Troops also set up posts in the nearby villages of Al-Khader and Beit Jalla. Arabs from these towns have targeted Jewish homes and motorists numerous times with gunfire and shelling. On Friday, Arabs from Beit Jalla fired a mortar shell into Jerusalem\'s Gilo neighborhood which caused significant damage to a building.
Last night, a large ground force backed by tanks and armored vehicles took complete control of the town of Kalkilya, just east of Kfar Sava. At about midnight, two hours after the IDF cut off the town\'s electricity, soldiers entered Kalkilya from four directions under enemy gunfire. The troops searched for wanted terrorists and weapons/ammunition storage facilities there. Troops also arrested six suspected terrorists in the nearby village of Azun. According to the IDF spokesman, the terrorist infrastructure in Kalkilya has greatly expanded since November and is responsible for many mass-casualty atrocities in Israel. The military wing of Arafat\'s Fatah has perpetrated most of the attacks emanating from the Kalkilya area. Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on CNN that the Fatah and Tanzim gangs, both which report directly to Yasser Arafat, are responsible for some 85% of the terrorist attacks in recent months. One soldier was seriously wounded and seven others sustained light injuries in the Kalkilya operation when Arabs detonated an explosive device against the force as the soldiers were inspecting a home.
Soldiers last night also took up positions near the town of Tulkarem, east of Netanya. Earlier, masked PLO gunmen executed eight fellow Arabs in the town who were suspected of assisting Israel intelligence.
Israeli forces also remain in the town of Ramallah where the offices of PLO leader Yasser Arafat remain surrounded. Israel\'s cabinet instructed the IDF to seize at all cost the tens of wanted terrorists who are holed up with Arafat. The cabinet authorized the IDF to call up today another five thousand IDF reservists in order to sustain the current operations against the PLO. Eight IDF soldiers were injured, one seriously, in exchanges of fire in the late afternoon in Ramallah. In southern Jerusalem, an IDF soldier was killed today in an exchange of fire.
In another incident yesterday, PLO gunmen shot and wounded Boston Globe reporter Anthony Shadid. Shadid was fleeing a gun battle in Ramallah when an Arab bullet struck him in the shoulder. He made his way to Israeli soldiers who administered first aid. Later he was transferred to Jerusalem\'s Hadassah hospital. PLO officials originally accused the IDF of shooting Shadid.
Early this morning IDF forces entered parts of Bethlehem, south of the capital. Troops also set up posts in the nearby villages of Al-Khader and Beit Jalla. Arabs from these towns have targeted Jewish homes and motorists numerous times with gunfire and shelling. On Friday, Arabs from Beit Jalla fired a mortar shell into Jerusalem\'s Gilo neighborhood which caused significant damage to a building.
Last night, a large ground force backed by tanks and armored vehicles took complete control of the town of Kalkilya, just east of Kfar Sava. At about midnight, two hours after the IDF cut off the town\'s electricity, soldiers entered Kalkilya from four directions under enemy gunfire. The troops searched for wanted terrorists and weapons/ammunition storage facilities there. Troops also arrested six suspected terrorists in the nearby village of Azun. According to the IDF spokesman, the terrorist infrastructure in Kalkilya has greatly expanded since November and is responsible for many mass-casualty atrocities in Israel. The military wing of Arafat\'s Fatah has perpetrated most of the attacks emanating from the Kalkilya area. Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on CNN that the Fatah and Tanzim gangs, both which report directly to Yasser Arafat, are responsible for some 85% of the terrorist attacks in recent months. One soldier was seriously wounded and seven others sustained light injuries in the Kalkilya operation when Arabs detonated an explosive device against the force as the soldiers were inspecting a home.
Soldiers last night also took up positions near the town of Tulkarem, east of Netanya. Earlier, masked PLO gunmen executed eight fellow Arabs in the town who were suspected of assisting Israel intelligence.
Israeli forces also remain in the town of Ramallah where the offices of PLO leader Yasser Arafat remain surrounded. Israel\'s cabinet instructed the IDF to seize at all cost the tens of wanted terrorists who are holed up with Arafat. The cabinet authorized the IDF to call up today another five thousand IDF reservists in order to sustain the current operations against the PLO. Eight IDF soldiers were injured, one seriously, in exchanges of fire in the late afternoon in Ramallah. In southern Jerusalem, an IDF soldier was killed today in an exchange of fire.
In another incident yesterday, PLO gunmen shot and wounded Boston Globe reporter Anthony Shadid. Shadid was fleeing a gun battle in Ramallah when an Arab bullet struck him in the shoulder. He made his way to Israeli soldiers who administered first aid. Later he was transferred to Jerusalem\'s Hadassah hospital. PLO officials originally accused the IDF of shooting Shadid.