PALESTINE: Israeli troops raid West Bank refugee camp

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

TULKARM, May 24 2003 (IPS) - A large Israeli force entered the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank before dawn Saturday, Israeli Radio reported, claiming that militants intended to use the camp as a base from which to launch attacks against Israel.

The force, which Palestinians said was backed by armored vehicles, was conducting house-to-house searches to try to locate cells of the militant Islamic organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

A curfew had been placed on residents of the refugee camp and over Tulkarm city, which lie in the northwestern West Bank, close to the border with Israel.