Israeli forces fatally shoot man on Yom Kippur
( 2002-09-17 12:56 ) (7 )

Israeli forces shot dead a man near an army checkpoint in the Gaza Strip on Monday as Jews marked Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

The army said troops guarding the Gush Katif checkpoint had fired at a man who had thrown a hand grenade at them.

But Palestinians said the man was killed inside his car when he failed to heed Israeli soldiers' demands to step out of his car and join others ordered to stand at the side of a major road running through Gaza from north to south.

Palestinian security officials identified the man as a 27-year-old Egyptian. Witnesses earlier said he was Palestinian.

"The man was a regular passenger who was killed inside the car by Israeli troops," said Major General Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh, the Palestinian public security chief.

The incident was the latest in a week of heightened military raids in Gaza, where the Israeli army says it has been seeking militants suspected of spearheading the almost two-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

The army spokesman said troops arrested three wanted Palestinians in the West Bank late Sunday and Monday. He added that Palestinians opened fire at Israeli soldiers imposing curfews on Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Tulkarm.

In Jenin, the army said an Israeli force returning fire wounded a Palestinian gunman, who was taken for medical treatment.

TIGHT CURFEWS

At least 1,542 Palestinians and 591 Israelis have been killed in violence since the uprising began in September 2000.

Israeli forces enforced tight curfews on five Palestinian cities and sealed off the Gaza Strip and West Bank for the duration of the Jewish fast day.

Israeli radio stations quoted security officials as saying they had warnings Palestinian militants had been planning attacks over Yom Kippur.

Israeli forces also raided an apartment building in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday night in a failed search for a member of the Islamic militant Hamas movement which has carried out suicide bombings in Israel.

The militant's brother, Mohammed al-Sakhel, said the soldiers damaged furniture and windows inside the building's eight apartments. The wanted man, Nael al-Sakhel, has an apartment in the building but was not there at the time.

Nablus has been under Israeli army curfew for much of the time since June, when Israel tightened restrictions on West Bank cities following a wave of suicide bombings in Israel. Jenin, Ramallah, Hebron, Qalqilya and Tulkarm also remain under curfew.

On Monday, U.S., Egyptian and Jordanian security trainers began a course in law enforcement techniques for Palestinians inside the Jericho Intercontinental Hotel, said Zuhair Manasra, head of Palestinian Preventive security in the West Bank.

The 30 Palestinian trainees, half of whom are from Gaza and the rest from the West Bank, are policemen, firemen and intelligence officers who are participating in a twenty day course, according to Palestinian sources inside the hotel.

Israeli streets came to life at nightfall on Monday, as cars filled the roads for the first time after 25 hours of the annual Jewish fast. Television and radio stations began broadcasting on Monday night.

Earlier on Monday, streets in West Jerusalem were filled with the sound of singing cantors leading their Jewish congregation in prayers of atonement.