Byline: Omar Karmi
Aug. 25--RAMALLAH -- Israeli soldiers crossed into the Gaza Strip early yesterday, capturing a local Hamas leader and killing his brother.
As the forces, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, moved into the area of Abasan and took up positions on rooftops, they were met with resistance, sparking gunbattles that wounded two Palestinians, officials said.
Hamas officials identified the captured man as Younis Abu Daqqa, a local Hamas leader and a lecturer at Islamic University in Gaza City. His brother, Yousef, not a known member of Hamas or any other group, was killed in the fighting, Hamas said.
The Israeli army confirmed that a senior Hamas operative was arrested, and at least one person was killed. It did not identify the men.
The army has routinely carried out nighttime raids into Gaza since it escalated its operations in the strip after the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier. In that time, Israel has killed more than 200 Palestinians.
Late Wednesday, an Israeli tank fired a shell at two men who approached Gaza's border fence with Israel in the same area, according to Palestinian officials and the Israeli army.
An Islamic Jihad activist's body and another wounded group member were found near the area, Islamic Jihad and ambulance crews said.
The army said soldiers identified two suspicious men crawling towards the border post, fired a tank shell at them and identified hitting them.
Also late Wednesday, a top Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank was shot in the head and seriously wounded, local hospital officials said.
The officials said Hossam Jaradat, the West Bank leader of Islamic Jihad's armed wing, was shot by undercover Israeli soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp. But Islamic Jihad said they were not sure Israel was behind the shooting.
The Israeli army said it had no information on the report.
Elsewhere, an Israeli military court on Thursday remanded Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasseredine Al Shaer in custody for a further eight days following his capture earlier this month.
Shaer did not appear before the military court in Ofer, near Ramallah, to hear the remand order during which no charges were brought. One of his lawyers, Osama Al Saadi, said his client had refused to attend the hearing because he considered the court illegal.
Israeli troops arrested the 44-year-old Shaer, also Palestinian education minister and the most senior member of the Hamas-led Cabinet in the occupied West Bank, on August 19 from his Ramallah home.
The army confirmed that his capture was part of a wider clampdown against Hamas, which the West considers a terrorist organisation, and which has refused to formally recognise Israel or renounce its armed resistance since taking office.
Yesterday, the Israeli army also captured Musa Alqam, 42, the Hamas mayor of Beit Ummar village near Hebron, witnesses told AFP.
Four other villagers were detained in the operation. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
In Jerusalem, a court also extended the remand of Jerusalem Affairs Minister Khaled Abu Arafeh by another eight days.
On Tuesday, an Israeli military court charged Palestinian Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik with "belonging to a terrorist organisation", two weeks after his seizure in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has detained more than 60 elected Hamas officials, including a third of the Cabinet and 26 MPs since June 25.
In Gaza, the wife of a television cameraman being held hostage with a Fox News correspondent in Gaza made a fresh appeal for their release, a day after a videotape of the two men was issued by their captors.
Speaking before meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Anita McNaught, a former BBC presenter, urged the hostage-takers to understand that her husband, Olaf Wiig, and Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, were not their enemies.
"Olaf and Steve have always worked for the interest of the Palestinian people, they came here to support you by telling your story," she said.
"I do not question that you who are holding them have suffered greatly, as everyone in Gaza -- in the Palestinian territories -- is suffering, but these two men are not responsible for the injustices that you speak of, and they should not be punished for them."
New Zealand-born Wiig, 36, and American Centanni, 60, were seized on August 14 as they were working on a story in central Gaza City. Theirs is the longest-lasting abduction in Gaza in more than a year.
On Wednesday, the previously unknown Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and gave the United States 72 hours to free Muslim prisoners or else the captives would face unspecified consequences.
The deadline is set to expire around midday on Saturday.
To see more of the Jordan Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jordantimes.com/.
Copyright (c) 2006, Jordan Times, Amman
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business
News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Israeli soldiers enter Gaza Strip, capture local Hamas leader, kill brother.Byline: Omar Karmi
Aug. 25--RAMALLAH -- Israeli soldiers crossed into the Gaza Strip early yesterday, capturing a local Hamas leader and killing his brother.
As the forces, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, moved into the area of Abasan and took up positions on rooftops, they were met with resistance, sparking gunbattles that wounded two Palestinians, officials said.
Hamas officials identified the captured man as Younis Abu Daqqa, a local Hamas leader and a lecturer at Islamic University in Gaza City. His brother, Yousef, not a known member of Hamas or any other group, was killed in the fighting, Hamas said.
The Israeli army confirmed that a senior Hamas operative was arrested, and at least one person was killed. It did not identify the men.
The army has routinely carried out nighttime raids into Gaza since it escalated its operations in the strip after the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier. In that time, Israel has killed more than 200 Palestinians.
Late Wednesday, an Israeli tank fired a shell at two men who approached Gaza's border fence with Israel in the same area, according to Palestinian officials and the Israeli army.
An Islamic Jihad activist's body and another wounded group member were found near the area, Islamic Jihad and ambulance crews said.
The army said soldiers identified two suspicious men crawling towards the border post, fired a tank shell at them and identified hitting them.
Also late Wednesday, a top Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank was shot in the head and seriously wounded, local hospital officials said.
The officials said Hossam Jaradat, the West Bank leader of Islamic Jihad's armed wing, was shot by undercover Israeli soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp. But Islamic Jihad said they were not sure Israel was behind the shooting.
The Israeli army said it had no information on the report.
Elsewhere, an Israeli military court on Thursday remanded Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasseredine Al Shaer in custody for a further eight days following his capture earlier this month.
Shaer did not appear before the military court in Ofer, near Ramallah, to hear the remand order during which no charges were brought. One of his lawyers, Osama Al Saadi, said his client had refused to attend the hearing because he considered the court illegal.
Israeli troops arrested the 44-year-old Shaer, also Palestinian education minister and the most senior member of the Hamas-led Cabinet in the occupied West Bank, on August 19 from his Ramallah home.
The army confirmed that his capture was part of a wider clampdown against Hamas, which the West considers a terrorist organisation, and which has refused to formally recognise Israel or renounce its armed resistance since taking office.
Yesterday, the Israeli army also captured Musa Alqam, 42, the Hamas mayor of Beit Ummar village near Hebron, witnesses told AFP.
Four other villagers were detained in the operation. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
In Jerusalem, a court also extended the remand of Jerusalem Affairs Minister Khaled Abu Arafeh by another eight days.
On Tuesday, an Israeli military court charged Palestinian Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik with "belonging to a terrorist organisation", two weeks after his seizure in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has detained more than 60 elected Hamas officials, including a third of the Cabinet and 26 MPs since June 25.
In Gaza, the wife of a television cameraman being held hostage with a Fox News correspondent in Gaza made a fresh appeal for their release, a day after a videotape of the two men was issued by their captors.
Speaking before meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Anita McNaught, a former BBC presenter, urged the hostage-takers to understand that her husband, Olaf Wiig, and Fox correspondent Steve Centanni, were not their enemies.
"Olaf and Steve have always worked for the interest of the Palestinian people, they came here to support you by telling your story," she said.
"I do not question that you who are holding them have suffered greatly, as everyone in Gaza -- in the Palestinian territories -- is suffering, but these two men are not responsible for the injustices that you speak of, and they should not be punished for them."
New Zealand-born Wiig, 36, and American Centanni, 60, were seized on August 14 as they were working on a story in central Gaza City. Theirs is the longest-lasting abduction in Gaza in more than a year.
On Wednesday, the previously unknown Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and gave the United States 72 hours to free Muslim prisoners or else the captives would face unspecified consequences.
The deadline is set to expire around midday on Saturday.
To see more of the Jordan Times or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jordantimes.com/.
Copyright (c) 2006, Jordan Times, Amman
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business
News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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