IDF forces moved into two more PLO villages early this morning in the ongoing effort to wipe out Yasser Arafat’s terrorist infrastructure. The offensive comes despite repeated demands from the US and most of the world to put an immediate end to \"Operation Defensive Shield.\" The troops and tanks entered Bir Zeit in the Ramallah district and the Dahariya neighborhood near Hevron. Soldiers began house-to-house searches for wanted Palestinian terrorists and for illegal weapons; 80 armed terrorists surrendered in Dahariya.
At the same time, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered IDF forces out of 24 Arab villages, including Kabatiya (Jenin area), and Yatta and Samoa (Hevron). Ben-Eliezer says that the missions in those areas have been completed. During IDF searches in the villages, wanted Arab fugitives were arrested and explosives laboratories and materials were found and destroyed. US government officials praised Israel\'s withdrawal from those areas, and said that Arafat is concurrently expected to call off all terrorism and violence (see article 4 below).
In Jenin, too, dozens of wanted terrorists gave themselves up today, despite their earlier pledge that they would \"fight to the death.\" One of the new detainees is Jenin\'s Islamic Jihad chief Ali Safuri, who was reported yesterday to have been killed. He \"came to life this morning,\" an IDF officer said.
The Israeli Army spokesman says that as of this morning, Operation Defensive Shield shows the following numbers: Among Israeli security forces, 28 were killed and 122 wounded. Detained Palestinians numbered 4,185 [many of whom were armed, while many were released after interrogation], of whom 121 were wanted terrorist suspects. The IDF forces confiscated close to 2,400 rifles, 770 pistols, 49 RPG\'s, 5 RPG launchers, 3 mortars and shells, 30 machineguns, 97 explosive charges, 5 explosive belts, night vision equipment, 38 crates of ammunition, and much more.
Yesterday, IDF troops arrested four PA policemen near the Kasba section of Shechem. Found in their possession was a considerable amount of weaponry, including 21 Kalachnikov assault rifles, military vests filled with arms, boxes of detonators for the preparing of explosives, time-delayed fuses and sub-calibers for LOW missiles. Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured yesterday in an exchange of gunfire as Israeli forces operated in Shechem.
At the same time, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered IDF forces out of 24 Arab villages, including Kabatiya (Jenin area), and Yatta and Samoa (Hevron). Ben-Eliezer says that the missions in those areas have been completed. During IDF searches in the villages, wanted Arab fugitives were arrested and explosives laboratories and materials were found and destroyed. US government officials praised Israel\'s withdrawal from those areas, and said that Arafat is concurrently expected to call off all terrorism and violence (see article 4 below).
In Jenin, too, dozens of wanted terrorists gave themselves up today, despite their earlier pledge that they would \"fight to the death.\" One of the new detainees is Jenin\'s Islamic Jihad chief Ali Safuri, who was reported yesterday to have been killed. He \"came to life this morning,\" an IDF officer said.
The Israeli Army spokesman says that as of this morning, Operation Defensive Shield shows the following numbers: Among Israeli security forces, 28 were killed and 122 wounded. Detained Palestinians numbered 4,185 [many of whom were armed, while many were released after interrogation], of whom 121 were wanted terrorist suspects. The IDF forces confiscated close to 2,400 rifles, 770 pistols, 49 RPG\'s, 5 RPG launchers, 3 mortars and shells, 30 machineguns, 97 explosive charges, 5 explosive belts, night vision equipment, 38 crates of ammunition, and much more.
Yesterday, IDF troops arrested four PA policemen near the Kasba section of Shechem. Found in their possession was a considerable amount of weaponry, including 21 Kalachnikov assault rifles, military vests filled with arms, boxes of detonators for the preparing of explosives, time-delayed fuses and sub-calibers for LOW missiles. Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured yesterday in an exchange of gunfire as Israeli forces operated in Shechem.