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A Palestinian woman walking with her child during an IDF operation in Nablus on Thursday. (Reuters)
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Last update - 11:48 21/09/2007
Four Palestinians killed in IDF raid in Gaza Strip
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies

Israel Defense Soldiers soldiers killed four Palestinians during an incursion in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, hospital officials said.

Gunmen confronted the IDF force and set off explosives, and an Israel Air Force helicopter also took part in the clashes in Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

According to Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Health Ministry in Gaza, 17-year-old Mahmoud Kassassi was hit by shrapnel from a tank shell, then run over by an army bulldozer.

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On Thursday afternoon, 22-year-old Mohammed Abu-Hajir was killed by IDF fire. Palestinian sources said he was a civilian.

32-year-old Hamas militant Aimad Abu-Hajir was killed in the fighting.

In addition, 17-year-old Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant Yunis Abu-Hujeila's body was found after troops withdrew from the Strip on Thursday evening. According to Hassanain, Abu-Hujeila was wounded by shrapnel from a tank shell.

In addition, five Palestinians were wounded in the operation, three of them Hamas militants. One of the wounded Hamas militants was detained by the IDF.

Earlier Thursday, IDF and the Shin Bet succeeded Thursday in capturing the terrorist cell planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack in the center of the country.

The defense establishment is also concerned about another Hamas cell, in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah, that is believed to be planning major attacks inside Israel as well.

Four members of the cell, which includes militants from both Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), were apprehended - including the intended suicide bomber.

The IDF said a total of 35 Palestinians were arrested in the course of the operation.

During the Nablus raid, the city's residents complained that they were running out of food.

A military spokesman said the army is allowing food, medicine and ambulances into the Ein Beit Ilma refugee camp. But with a tight curfew clamped on the camp since Tuesday, some of the 5,000 residents said they couldn't leave their homes to buy food.

In Nablus, Hussam Hamdan, 30, said troops had confined him in a house along with some 70 other people, and they were subsisting on depleting stores of bread and olives. "There is no food in this house we are in," Hamdan said.

Lara Kanan, 23, said water was running out in some houses because rooftop water tanks had been hit by bullets.

The food shortages were especially painful coming during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast during the day, then break the fast at night with a celebratory meal known as iftar.

On Thursday, troops fired rubber-coated bullets to disperse a protest by residents calling for an end to the raid, residents said. Hospital officials said 14 people have been wounded by rubber bullets since Wednesday.

Two Palestinians and one IDF soldier were killed in the first two days of the fighting. On Tuesday, IDF Staff Sergeant Ben-Zion Henman, a paratrooper, was killed in the refugee camp, as was the Palestinian who shot him - a 17-year-old member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas called on Thursday for a halt to the incursion into Nablus and its refugee camps, which he said was the most recent example of Israel's policy of invasion. Abbas spoke at a joint press conference with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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Press F for forgiveness
Ahead of Yom Kippur, one can see a growing trend of apologizing on the Internet.
Black and white sketch
Instead of a full portrait, the articles in this journal only give us part of the story.
  1.   "It was not immediately clear if he was armed" 10:53  |  matt 20/09/07
  2.   Killing field 12:39  |  Dav 20/09/07
  3.   do we need anymore proof? 13:06  |  VIPER 20/09/07
  4.   stupied Israeli policy 13:08  |  Gaza witness 20/09/07
  5.   Israel doing what it does best 13:23  |  Lenny 20/09/07
  6.   gaza witness 13:37  |  real vision 20/09/07
  7.   #6 13:56  |  bill 20/09/07
  8.   real vision`s present blindness 13:57  |  by gum 20/09/07
  9.   pals should be forced off the strip n bak to their home countries 14:08  |  Mike 20/09/07
  10.   Israel doing what it does best: murdering children and youths 14:12  |  Mark 20/09/07
  11.   #6 Bill 14:31  |  Petra 20/09/07
  12.   by gum 14:43  |  Petra 20/09/07
  13.   Haaretz - Lesson #2 in journalism. An ongoing reminder... 14:45  |  bat yam 20/09/07
  14.   Israel doing what it does best. 14:48  |  Petra 20/09/07
  15.   Gaza/mike no 9 14:52  |  Sean 20/09/07
  16.   #3 VIPER: Regular VIPERS are more clever than the AUSTRALIAN ONE. 15:04  |  Vittorio 20/09/07
  17.   5 Israel. what it does best, create more suffering , fuel terror 15:08  |  Kevin 20/09/07
  18.   VIPER/APARTHEID 15:09  |  * BEN JABO 20/09/07
  19.   9 : Pal Refugee`s home country is Israel. Dont you know that? 15:11  |  Kevin 20/09/07
  20.   Food shortage - Let them eat guns 15:12  |  * BEN JABO 20/09/07
  21.   Gaza is a prison 15:14  |  Justice Seeker 20/09/07
  22.   Four more islamists decided to murder civilians 15:15  |  Johnny 20/09/07
  23.   Stop Isreal 15:17  |  Justice Seeker 20/09/07
  24.   THERE WILL NEVER BE A PALESTINIAN STATE 15:19  |  Dagma 20/09/07
  25.   ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS 15:19  |  Igor D. 20/09/07
  26.   Congratulations to the IDF for capturing the suicide cell 15:20  |  Murray of Montreal 20/09/07
  27.   Good Job IDF, Now get rid of the rest of the terrorist 15:23  |  Shepherd 20/09/07
  28.   Hamas doing what it does best 15:24  |  Sol 20/09/07
  29.   PALS in GAZA should stop BEGGING. Start WORKING. QASSAM LAUNCHING 15:28  |  Vittorio 20/09/07
  30.   The Price to Pay 15:30  |  Avi (from Poland) 20/09/07
  31.   I Don`t Buy the Story-Caterpillar Lawsuit Loss? 15:31  |  Jane 20/09/07
  32.   Petra # 14 15:32  |  Goldberg 20/09/07
  33.   to sean from ireland 15:35  |  Igor D. 20/09/07
  34.   to sean from ireland 15:36  |  Igor D. 20/09/07
  35.   petra 15:36  |  bill 20/09/07
  36.   number 15 15:44  |  michael 20/09/07
  37.   Poor Sean,abused at childhood by his parish priest :One of 15:45  |  Absolute Sweden 20/09/07
  38.   #4 15:45  |  Lavy 20/09/07
  39.   Mark doing what he does best: making stupid, odious statements 15:52  |  Erik 20/09/07
  40.   IDF (Incompetent Danling Farters) 15:53  |  Lie detector 20/09/07
  41.   IDF Staff Sergeant Ben-Zion Henman 15:56  |  Chick 20/09/07
  42.   Sean - #15 15:58  |  David 20/09/07
  43.   Israel: On Peace 15:59  |  Marcos 20/09/07
  44.   #!10YOU HAVE WRONG COUNTRY 15:59  |  TOBIA 20/09/07
  45.   Bat Yam.. Standing Ovation.. 16:05  |  Nephtaly 20/09/07
  46.   Guns or Butter 16:08  |  Chick 20/09/07
  47.   Great job of playing to the masses 16:14  |  mike 20/09/07
  48.   THE IDF IS FUELING THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE ..... 16:34  |  Dutch 20/09/07
  49.   to "Goldberg" 16:39  |  Goldenberg 20/09/07
  50.   SEE what you want 16:47  |  politically partial 20/09/07
  51.   Bill from Brisbane 17:04  |  george 20/09/07
  52.   sean and justice, @15 17:15  |  vladimir 20/09/07
  53.   #49 Goldie 17:24  |  Golderg 20/09/07
  54.   Mark #10 Israel`s Best is being the only country to send .. 17:29  |  B`Galil 20/09/07
  55.   Lots of stinking hot air from Holland 17:33  |  Maven 20/09/07
  56.   to igor.d and absolute sweden 17:39  |  Sean 20/09/07
  57.   to igor.d and absolute sweden 17:39  |  Sean 20/09/07
  58.   brooklyn bridges for sale 17:41  |  MArk B. 20/09/07
  59.   Mike, read bible, you would know who`s land Israel is 17:55  |  Johnny 20/09/07
  60.   Its sad 17:57  |  norm 20/09/07
  61.   anti-Zionists turn night into day 17:58  |  Paul Freedman 20/09/07
  62.   to "goldberg" once more 18:12  |  Goldenberg 20/09/07
  63.   Stupid Palestinians 18:12  |  Fussion 20/09/07
  64.   to sean 18:21  |  natan 20/09/07
  65.   Condeming Retaliaion in Gaza????? 18:41  |  Fullu Caplan 20/09/07
  66.   To Sean: wow, u can not be serious 18:42  |  John 20/09/07
  67.   Mahmoud Kassassi 19:03  |  Uncle Dolphie 20/09/07
  68.   Israeli story is highly suspect... 19:15  |  Ibrahim 20/09/07
  69.   Sean, the pastey white loser from Ireland. 19:27  |  JewishAlltheWay 20/09/07
  70.   To Dutch #48 19:31  |  Lavy 20/09/07
  71.   Sean #15 re Gaza/mike no 9 19:39  |  Michael 20/09/07
  72.   All Israel bashers 19:42  |  Ami 20/09/07
  73.   Port-a-johnny in Sweden 19:50  |  Mike 20/09/07
  74.   Kol hakavod IDF: the bravest and the best 19:54  |  Daniel 20/09/07
  75.   THANK GOD FOR THE WALL 20:03  |  HAL TRIPP 20/09/07
  76.   #69 Ibrahim -MI, USA 20:41  |  * BEN JABO 20/09/07
  77.   Good, very good. Haaretz is making journalistic progress... 20:44  |  bat yam 20/09/07
  78.   #74 Mike USA 20:44  |  * BEN JABO 20/09/07
  79.   Ibrahim the arrogant Arab/American knows the 20:54  |  Yahudi Suri 20/09/07
  80.   15shaun`s peace & dignity & want. 20:57  |  curious 20/09/07
  81.