IDF Apache helicopters fired two air-to-surface rockets last night - and killed Hevron Tanzim commander Marwan Zaloum in his car, together with two other wanted terrorists. Zaloum, who had been in hiding for close to a year, was responsible for many murderous terrorist attacks against Israelis, including the murder of 10-month-old Shalhevet Pass of Hevron. An Arab sniper gunned down the Jewish infant a year ago while she was in her mother’s arms outside their Hevron home.
Hevron has been the scene of much Arab violence over the past 24 hours, directed both against Israelis and other Arabs. There was shooting from Haret a-Sheikh at Admot Yeshai; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers returned fire. Three bodies of Palestinians, partially mutilated and with bullet holes in their heads, were found this morning on a main street in Hevron. Their hands and legs were tied and they were then shot and killed on suspicion of having cooperated with Israel. Video coverage of mobs of Arabs surrounding and kicking the bodies was shown on international television today.
Two Arab gunmen shot and killed 22-year-old Sgt.-Maj. Nir Krichman last night while he and his commando unit were patrolling in northern Shomron. Immediately following the ambush, other soldiers charged the source of gunfire and killed the two Arabs - who were later identified as Hamas members responsible for the murder of many Israelis. They were involved in the bus attack outside Emanuel last December that left 10 Israelis dead, and one of them took part in the Jordan Valley attack in Hamra. Three Israelis - including a mother and daughter - were murdered in the latter attack. Sgt.-Maj. Krichman died of his wounds as he was being flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. Thousands took part in his funeral this afternoon in the military section of the Hadera cemetery.
On the Gaza front, Arutz-7\'s Kobi Finkler reports that the fighting there continues intensively, including three mortar shells on a hothouse last night, several shooting incidents today, and many grenades at an IDF outpost in the south. Three would-be Arab murderers were killed yesterday in various battles, \"and the fighting there is a daily affair.\" Finkler noted that the IDF reported \"with great satisfaction and even astonishment that the rate of soldiers who showed up for their military call-ups for Operation Defensive Shield stood at 125%! This means that many volunteers came, as well as reservists who were abroad or who were medically exempt. This rate is even higher than it was for the Six-Day War!\"
Israeli forces arrested about 21 wanted Palestinian terrorists, as well as other Arab suspects, during the course of the night in raids on a number of Arab villages in the Hevron-Bethlehem region. Seven were caught in Tzurif (a hostile village that produced the murderers of the famous \"Lamed-Heh\" 35 Israelis in the 1940\'s), nine in Husan, five in El Hader near Efrat, and five in Yata.
Hevron has been the scene of much Arab violence over the past 24 hours, directed both against Israelis and other Arabs. There was shooting from Haret a-Sheikh at Admot Yeshai; no one was hurt, and IDF soldiers returned fire. Three bodies of Palestinians, partially mutilated and with bullet holes in their heads, were found this morning on a main street in Hevron. Their hands and legs were tied and they were then shot and killed on suspicion of having cooperated with Israel. Video coverage of mobs of Arabs surrounding and kicking the bodies was shown on international television today.
Two Arab gunmen shot and killed 22-year-old Sgt.-Maj. Nir Krichman last night while he and his commando unit were patrolling in northern Shomron. Immediately following the ambush, other soldiers charged the source of gunfire and killed the two Arabs - who were later identified as Hamas members responsible for the murder of many Israelis. They were involved in the bus attack outside Emanuel last December that left 10 Israelis dead, and one of them took part in the Jordan Valley attack in Hamra. Three Israelis - including a mother and daughter - were murdered in the latter attack. Sgt.-Maj. Krichman died of his wounds as he was being flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. Thousands took part in his funeral this afternoon in the military section of the Hadera cemetery.
On the Gaza front, Arutz-7\'s Kobi Finkler reports that the fighting there continues intensively, including three mortar shells on a hothouse last night, several shooting incidents today, and many grenades at an IDF outpost in the south. Three would-be Arab murderers were killed yesterday in various battles, \"and the fighting there is a daily affair.\" Finkler noted that the IDF reported \"with great satisfaction and even astonishment that the rate of soldiers who showed up for their military call-ups for Operation Defensive Shield stood at 125%! This means that many volunteers came, as well as reservists who were abroad or who were medically exempt. This rate is even higher than it was for the Six-Day War!\"
Israeli forces arrested about 21 wanted Palestinian terrorists, as well as other Arab suspects, during the course of the night in raids on a number of Arab villages in the Hevron-Bethlehem region. Seven were caught in Tzurif (a hostile village that produced the murderers of the famous \"Lamed-Heh\" 35 Israelis in the 1940\'s), nine in Husan, five in El Hader near Efrat, and five in Yata.