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Israeli army kills 13 Palestinians, Bush to send Zinni back
Israeli forces pounded the West Bank and Gaza Strip , killing 13 Palestinians, as US President George W Bush decided in the face of escalating violence to send his Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region.
Israeli forces pounded the West Bank and Gaza Strip , killing 13 Palestinians, as US President George W Bush decided in the face of escalating violence to send his Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region.
Speaking in Washington, Bush said he was "deeply troubled" by the outburst of violence between Israelis and Palestinians and said Zinni would return to the region next week.
The comments came after Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon brushed aside US criticism of his fierce retaliation for attacks by Palestinian militants.
Ten Palestinians, including a paramedic and ambulance driver, were killed during clashes between militants and the Israeli army in Tulkarem in the West Bank, Palestinian hospital sources said.
Another Palestinian died elsewhere in the West Bank and two more in the Gaza Strip, with the bloodshed raising the death toll from the 17-month-old Palestinian intifada to 1,396, including 1,061 Palestinians and 312 Israelis.
A Palestinian suicide bomber, meanwhile, killed himself and wounded nine people in an attack on a commercial complex just outside Ariel, in the West Bank, one of the biggest Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The bombing was claimed by the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades , military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group which claimed the killing of a right-wing Israeli cabinet minister in October.
Barely an hour later, Israeli gunships fired rockets on security buildings in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya, including an office used by the PFLP.
And Israeli tanks, backed by helicopter gunships, rolled into Tulkarem in Palestinian-controlled territory in the northwestern West Bank overnight.
Around 50 tanks and armoured vehicles re-occupied the town as well as the Tulkarem and Nur el-Shams Palestinian refugee camps, in an operation that injured 35 people, two critically.
An Israeli bulldozer entered a school run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency on the edge of Tulkarem, destroyed walls and tore up the playground, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
Colonel Yair Golan told Israeli public radio the operation could last "as long as two days" and that it was aimed at "catching as many wanted militants as possible," and seizing arms.
Another 10 civilians were wounded when an Israeli F-16 warplane attacked an empty Palestinian police headquarters in the center of Gaza City, hospital sources said.
The attack narrowly missed more than 3,000 refugee children in UN-run schools in Gaza City, a UN spokeswoman said in New York.
Six Palestinians, among them a heavily pregnant woman, were wounded late yesterday when Israeli helicopters raided a refugee camp and a village in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources reported.
Two Israeli helicopters also fired rockets on a position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 bodyguards in West Bank town of Hebron, hours after hitting their headquarters in Bethlehem.
Bureau Report
The comments came after Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon brushed aside US criticism of his fierce retaliation for attacks by Palestinian militants.
Ten Palestinians, including a paramedic and ambulance driver, were killed during clashes between militants and the Israeli army in Tulkarem in the West Bank, Palestinian hospital sources said.
Another Palestinian died elsewhere in the West Bank and two more in the Gaza Strip, with the bloodshed raising the death toll from the 17-month-old Palestinian intifada to 1,396, including 1,061 Palestinians and 312 Israelis.
A Palestinian suicide bomber, meanwhile, killed himself and wounded nine people in an attack on a commercial complex just outside Ariel, in the West Bank, one of the biggest Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The bombing was claimed by the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades , military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group which claimed the killing of a right-wing Israeli cabinet minister in October.
Barely an hour later, Israeli gunships fired rockets on security buildings in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya, including an office used by the PFLP.
And Israeli tanks, backed by helicopter gunships, rolled into Tulkarem in Palestinian-controlled territory in the northwestern West Bank overnight.
Around 50 tanks and armoured vehicles re-occupied the town as well as the Tulkarem and Nur el-Shams Palestinian refugee camps, in an operation that injured 35 people, two critically.
An Israeli bulldozer entered a school run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency on the edge of Tulkarem, destroyed walls and tore up the playground, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
Colonel Yair Golan told Israeli public radio the operation could last "as long as two days" and that it was aimed at "catching as many wanted militants as possible," and seizing arms.
Another 10 civilians were wounded when an Israeli F-16 warplane attacked an empty Palestinian police headquarters in the center of Gaza City, hospital sources said.
The attack narrowly missed more than 3,000 refugee children in UN-run schools in Gaza City, a UN spokeswoman said in New York.
Six Palestinians, among them a heavily pregnant woman, were wounded late yesterday when Israeli helicopters raided a refugee camp and a village in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources reported.
Two Israeli helicopters also fired rockets on a position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 bodyguards in West Bank town of Hebron, hours after hitting their headquarters in Bethlehem.
Bureau Report