lennart
05-09-03, 21:08
Naval commando killed in clash with Palestinians in Nablus
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Sgt. Maj. Ra'anan Komemi, a member of the Israel
Defense Forces' elite Naval Commando unit, was
killed before dawn Friday in a gunbattle with
armed Palestinians in the West Bank city of
Nablus. Four other soldiers were wounded in the
incident, one of them seriously.
A senior Hamas bomb-maker,
Mohammed Hanbali, who
orchestrated several fatal
suicide bombings and was
responsible for dozens of
Israeli deaths, was also killed
in the gunbattle.
The army later blew up the
seven-story building where the
incident took place, and some 100 Palestinians
had lived.
Komemi, 23, from Moshav Aminadav near Jerusalem,
was laid to rest at the Mount Herzl military
cemetery in Jerusalem later Friday. Komemi is
the fifth soldier from the Naval Commandos to
be killed in action since the end of the IDF's
Defensive Shield. Six years ago Friday, 13
soldiers from the same unit were killed in an
operation in Lebanon.
Troops from the elite Shayetet 13 unit exchanged
fire with Palestinian militants they had come
to arrest in a raid in the city in the early
hours of Friday morning, killing one and
arresting three, witnesses said.
Hanbali, a Hamas commander in the West Bank
responsible for dozens of terror attacks and
topped Israel's wanted list for that region,
was killed in the raid.
The troops fired four rockets at the apartment
building where the gunmen - defying a call over
loudspeakers to surrender - were holed up,
damaging two floors of the structure after
residents were ordered to leave.
Then the army sent dogs to search the building
area, after which troops entered and the
Palestinian gunmen fired at them, Israel Radio
quoted Brigadier General Gadi Eizenkot, who
commands the West Bank Division, as saying.
Komemi was killed in the shooting and four
others were wounded, after which troops
returned fire, killed a gunman, and destroyed
the building, Eizenkot said.
Several loud blasts were heard during the
two-hour firefight. The IDF said the wanted men
threw grenades. It was not immediately clear
whom the soldiers were chasing.
Witnesses said soldiers removed the body of a
Palestinian man from the building. Four
residents took the man's body and laid him
nearby, the witnesses said. Three Palestinians
were arrested after the gun battle, residents
said.
IDF blows up Nablus apartment building
The building was blown up more than six hours
after the gunbattle had ended because the
military believed some militants might have
remained hiding on top floors, said Maj. Sharon
Feingold, an army spokeswoman. Feingold didn't
know if additional fire had been directed at
Israeli troops after the gunbattle ended.
Israeli troops had ordered about 100 residents
to evacuate the structure, which housed 15
apartments, before the start of the raid. As it
exploded, the building disappeared behind large
brown clouds of dust and debris that covered
the neighborhood.
Three Palestinians were arrested after the
gunbattle, the army said.
The family of the dead Hamas leader, Hanbali,
said the young man was studying for a master's
degree in industrial engineering at Nablus' An
Najah University. He was a Hamas leader and his
father is a well-known Islamic leader in the
city.
Residents of the destroyed apartment building,
some of them weeping, tried to salvage whatever
they could from the rubble. Eleven families
lived there.
"My family is in the street," said 8-year-old
Baker Sobeh, searching for some school books in
the debris. Soldiers arrested his father. His
mother and siblings stood in the street in
their pajamas.
"I thought it would be just for a few minutes or
a short while," said his mother, Mona,
explaining why residents left the building with
no belongings when soldiers ordered them out.
Hours after the building was destroyed, a woman
in her 70s, Fatima Herzellah, couldn't bring
herself to go. "I just want to be close to my
place," she said through tears. Someone brought
her a plastic chair to sit there beside the
ruins of the building where she shared an
apartment with her son and his family.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=337214&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Nazi Israel laat zich weer eens van z'n ultra-nationalistische-rascistische kant zien.
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Sgt. Maj. Ra'anan Komemi, a member of the Israel
Defense Forces' elite Naval Commando unit, was
killed before dawn Friday in a gunbattle with
armed Palestinians in the West Bank city of
Nablus. Four other soldiers were wounded in the
incident, one of them seriously.
A senior Hamas bomb-maker,
Mohammed Hanbali, who
orchestrated several fatal
suicide bombings and was
responsible for dozens of
Israeli deaths, was also killed
in the gunbattle.
The army later blew up the
seven-story building where the
incident took place, and some 100 Palestinians
had lived.
Komemi, 23, from Moshav Aminadav near Jerusalem,
was laid to rest at the Mount Herzl military
cemetery in Jerusalem later Friday. Komemi is
the fifth soldier from the Naval Commandos to
be killed in action since the end of the IDF's
Defensive Shield. Six years ago Friday, 13
soldiers from the same unit were killed in an
operation in Lebanon.
Troops from the elite Shayetet 13 unit exchanged
fire with Palestinian militants they had come
to arrest in a raid in the city in the early
hours of Friday morning, killing one and
arresting three, witnesses said.
Hanbali, a Hamas commander in the West Bank
responsible for dozens of terror attacks and
topped Israel's wanted list for that region,
was killed in the raid.
The troops fired four rockets at the apartment
building where the gunmen - defying a call over
loudspeakers to surrender - were holed up,
damaging two floors of the structure after
residents were ordered to leave.
Then the army sent dogs to search the building
area, after which troops entered and the
Palestinian gunmen fired at them, Israel Radio
quoted Brigadier General Gadi Eizenkot, who
commands the West Bank Division, as saying.
Komemi was killed in the shooting and four
others were wounded, after which troops
returned fire, killed a gunman, and destroyed
the building, Eizenkot said.
Several loud blasts were heard during the
two-hour firefight. The IDF said the wanted men
threw grenades. It was not immediately clear
whom the soldiers were chasing.
Witnesses said soldiers removed the body of a
Palestinian man from the building. Four
residents took the man's body and laid him
nearby, the witnesses said. Three Palestinians
were arrested after the gun battle, residents
said.
IDF blows up Nablus apartment building
The building was blown up more than six hours
after the gunbattle had ended because the
military believed some militants might have
remained hiding on top floors, said Maj. Sharon
Feingold, an army spokeswoman. Feingold didn't
know if additional fire had been directed at
Israeli troops after the gunbattle ended.
Israeli troops had ordered about 100 residents
to evacuate the structure, which housed 15
apartments, before the start of the raid. As it
exploded, the building disappeared behind large
brown clouds of dust and debris that covered
the neighborhood.
Three Palestinians were arrested after the
gunbattle, the army said.
The family of the dead Hamas leader, Hanbali,
said the young man was studying for a master's
degree in industrial engineering at Nablus' An
Najah University. He was a Hamas leader and his
father is a well-known Islamic leader in the
city.
Residents of the destroyed apartment building,
some of them weeping, tried to salvage whatever
they could from the rubble. Eleven families
lived there.
"My family is in the street," said 8-year-old
Baker Sobeh, searching for some school books in
the debris. Soldiers arrested his father. His
mother and siblings stood in the street in
their pajamas.
"I thought it would be just for a few minutes or
a short while," said his mother, Mona,
explaining why residents left the building with
no belongings when soldiers ordered them out.
Hours after the building was destroyed, a woman
in her 70s, Fatima Herzellah, couldn't bring
herself to go. "I just want to be close to my
place," she said through tears. Someone brought
her a plastic chair to sit there beside the
ruins of the building where she shared an
apartment with her son and his family.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=337214&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
Nazi Israel laat zich weer eens van z'n ultra-nationalistische-rascistische kant zien.