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Israeli Army Arrests Hamas Head
Tuesday, August 6, 2002
(4:48 AM AEST)
ABC News Online

The wave of violence has continued in the Middle East, with Palestinians killing two Jewish settlers north of Ramallah in the West Bank. In the Ramallah shooting, the settlers were driving in a car when the Palestinians opened fire at them from another vehicle.

ABC
The Israeli army has arrested the man who heads the radical Islamic movement Hamas in the northern West Bank region.

Troops arrested Mazen Fukha in a town about 15 kilometres southeast of Jenin.

Israeli security sources say he was responsible for planning the suicide bombing of a bus in northern Israel yesterday which killed nine Israelis and injured dozens more.

Earlier, the Israeli Army began a new crackdown on Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians have been banned from driving their cars in five West Bank cities.

The Israeli Army says only humanitarian and medical traffic will be allowed on roads in Tulkarm, Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Qalqilya.

And in a further crackdown against Palestinian militants, Israeli troops have encircled the Gaza Strip town of Rafah in an operation the army says is designed to isolate terrorist infrastructure.

The measures come in response to a day of violence in Israel, with a suicide bombing on a bus and a shooting in Jerusalem leaving 13 people dead.

* Attacks
* Expulsion
(More: ABC.net.au News Source)
2002 © Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Dan