Police call off high alert for terror bid in Jerusalem, center
In W. Bank, troops kill gunman; in separate incident, pregnant woman dies of unknown cause at checkpoint.
By Avi Issacharoff Haaretz ServiceThe police Tuesday rescinded a high alert status called hours before, when it was feared that a would-be terrorist had crossed into Israel and intended to strike at Jerusalem or the central region.
Police had closed Highway 443, the Modi'in-Jerusalem route.
Roadblocks had also been set up at the entrance to Jerusalem, at Latrun, and in the Modi'in area, with officers closely checking stopped cars.
There were no initial reports that arrests had been made.
IDF troops kill gunman in West Bank Earlier in the day, Israel Defense Forces killed a wanted Palestinian gunman in a pre-dawn exchange of fire in the village of Sanur, near the West Bank town of Jenin.
In a separate incident early on Tuesday, a pregnant Palestinian woman died of unknown causes at the IDF's Tapuah checkpoint in the West Bank.
In the Nablus incident, IDF troops surrounded the building in which the militant, 27-year-old Nabil Hanani, was staying, and called on him to surrender himself. Hanani came out of the building and opened fire on the troops, who returned fire, killing him.
Hanani was a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militia affiliated with the Fatah party headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The soldiers were uninjured in the exchange. The IDF also arrested 14 other wanted militants across the West Bank.
Pregnant woman dies at checkpoint The woman, in the third month of her pregnancy, was not showing any signs of labor when she arrived at the checkpoint in the northern West Bank.
She told soldiers she did not feel well and needed to get to a doctor in the city of Nablus, the IDF said. Israeli army medics rushed to the scene, arriving within minutes, and began treating the woman, the IDF said.
In addition, a Palestinian ambulance was called. Soldiers did not hold the woman up at the checkpoint, the IDF said. Instead, the woman requested the assistance from the soldiers as she was waved through on her way to Nablus, the army said. Despite the treatment of the medics, the woman died.
Eyad Alkam, the driver of the ambulance, said "no one is guilty in this death since the woman arrived at the checkpoint in serious condition." Palestinian officials did not immediately comment on the death.
IAF strikes building in southern Gaza
Also early Tuesday morning, Israel Air Force missiles struck a southern Gaza building believed to house the opening to a tunnel used by militants for arms smuggling. The building was damaged, but no injuries were reported.
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No, we are not scared. We simply value life over death. The fighter about whom you write is a person whose value system is different than ours. The culture from which he comes and about which the Pope was talking is one of elevating the concept of death over life. So, we try to protect ourselves, to defend our lives. And as for "stolen land", about which land are you talking, and could you please describe the event of the "stealing", and if you can't, I must assume that you are repeating the groundless slogans circulated among those who have little interest in facts but much interest in being critical of everything Israeli and Jewish.
what a way to live on stolen land... when the mere mention of a single fighter from the other side can cause millions to tremble in FEAR..
As I read these brief news , it struck me "yes, a typical crazy day in Israel". The IDF soldiers doing their job in order to protect Israel from any violent harm against his citizens ... and also trying to help a pregnant Pa-woman from the side of the aggressor, who just might have carried a future terrorist in her womb .... but died from unknown causes. In the midst of all the madness it is worth noticing that ... thank G-D ..... Israelis have not lost their respect for human life...even for those who hate them. I find this TYPICAL Israeli characteristic most lovable feature at the Israelis. G-D bless You Israel(is) for the beauty of Your humaness.
May I be entitled to know more about Israel than you do? At one stage there was no control on population at all between the 'disputed territories' and Israel and work here without having to check through. People used to come in and go, buses passed through towns as if it had been one country. This was spoiled first by the suicide bombs and then the intifada. Things slowly closed down.
Fritz, "wanted" are, among other things, people who have already come to murder me and my family, my friends and neighbors; people who are in the process of planning such attacks; and people who have been involved in the planing and/or assisting of murdering civilian Jews. Should we, Fritz, as Jews, have the right to defend ourselves before we are actually slaughtered, or is this right, in your mind, reserved for only non-Jews?
i guess English is not your mother tongue
i don't think i have ever heard of an occupation of abother people's land without checkpoints and if not checkpoints per se,then some sort of barrier/baricade etc to control the local population and assert its power. regardless of the suicide bombings/ attacks against israeli civilians, checkpoints are an integral part of an occupation. so, no margie, the borders were not open before the intifada.
What right has Israel to "want" persons in the occupied territories? Gunman, fine, he will have reasons for this. Did he commit a crime? He probably just tried to defend what Israel wants or has allready occupied. What if Lebanon would "want" the heads of the IDF?
Prakashan, that's a Hindu name is it not?
Thank you for illustrating so well with your writing the nature of the people with whom we Israelis and Jews must deal on a daily basis. Your writing also illustrates the level of one's interest in learning the details and facts and properly analyze them, a level that is reaching 0 in your case. And finally, perhaps, reading your note, the Pope did have something meaningful to say, and you are his statement's illustration.
another doubting slimeball crawls out of the woodwork, I refer to the John Thomas @ #17. Read my response to him....that is IF it passes Ha'Aretz' protective guidelines to safeguard the delicate feelings of you Anti Semites out there!!!! Ha'Aretz I warned you this would happen hours ago!
People shouldn't die in checkpoints inside their own homeland no matter how nice and compassionate the soldiers manning these checkpoints are. People should be able to travel freely to and from their homes to their local hospital without having to tackle interrogations.
Dear Mr. Thomas, I didn't quite catch your first name so we'll assume it's John, a nice nondescript name for a hater. So now let's continue John Thomas Why do you doubt the integrity of the news reporting on this ISRAELI site that you so avidly visit? The lady in question unfortunately died of unknown/natural causes as stated in EVERY news report including the bloody bbc & sky. But you John Thomas suspect or know otherwise. Do you NOT see how STUPID you sound?? With sincere LOL best wishes Ari the polite JEW.
Sir Gaza Boy, as you know full well, the checkpoints about which you write were set up once the Palestinian Arab terror groups, e.g. Hammas, began to send in mass their cars laden with explosives into our cities during the last quarter of the year 2000, only to be followed by suicide murderers after those cars were not able to go through the checkpoints. We have lost many hundreds of innocent people to these attacks throughout Israel. We have saved the life of many more thousands of people, after these murderers were intercepted at the checkpoints. I speak from personal experience, having been at one of the most "lucrative" locations for those murderers. So, you can tell your friends, readers of the Guardian, the Independent, the London Review of Books stories about how bad the Israelis are, yet, those "humanitarians" friends of yours in London should also know of the lives saved by the checkpoints, unless by now perhaps Jewish life in their eyes is not as important to save, or is it?
Thanks for the warning on the high alert , never mind the consequences of heavy traffic due to surprise checkpoints, strengh and sucess to IDF for the future catch or kill of the terrorist(s),
When Palestinians drop dead at IDF checkpoints, an investigation is needed. This is an obvious coverup with the IDF soldiers denying responsibility even before they are accused.
I belive Hamas should start some or other way the Bombing campaign on jewish people , so they should be aware about their fate in occupied land (the so called Israel).
Why is everyone fussing about this article, is it the content? Jpost is also reporting the same things, however they are in separate articles. It doesnt matter how they are represented, it is all news anyway right? I do however find it hard to believe that this pregnant female got help so quickly. Many people have died at those checkpoints waiting entry to get medical help. I also find it hard to believe that IDF medics tried to help and also hard to believe that IDF called a Palestine ambulance since the usually blow them up with people inside.
they are here to cause more death to inoccents people. Why don't you just go to war with a bigger country instead of West bank? aren't Syria, Iran, Lebanon your enemies? man you couldn't defeat hizbullah who doesn't have airforces, navals, tanks...but can you defeat Syria?
Is Haaretz Al Jazeera in disguise ? With headlines like this it must be.
IDF showed kindness that was deserveing lets build on this and spread a message of peace & compassion. There is still time to bury the senseless divisions and start with new generosity and Kindness Remember a tree was once a seed so will the first seed of kindness turn into an orchard of Peace
khalid you write , If there where no check pioints this would never have happened " What a riduculas thing to say. If there was no Bin Laden then there would be no Us troops in Afganistan or Iraq. If there where no Palaestianian terror there would be no check points. I feel it is you who should be looking at the wdier picture.
If there had been no suicide bombings there would have been no need for checkpoints. The borders were open before that. If an Israeli newspaper hadn't been broadminded enough to accept your emails you wouldn't have been able to complain to the Israeli public. Get a grip and choose your battles more carefully.
why all the fuss about the way that haaretz made the headline? are israelis content with the living conditions in the OCCUPIED TERRITORIES? if there had been no checkpoint/s, the woman would have been able to move freely between towns/cities even call an ambulance without the hinderance of the checkpoints that strangle the life of palestinians. you (above responses) only complain about the perceived left wing/arab loving haaretz as a mouthpiece for terror! get a grip and try to look at the situation in a wider context and not as the victim of something else.
to this ISRAELI site. Now go back to sleep, by my reckoning it's only 4,50AM in NY & little boys like you should be still warmly tucked up in bed & not out here trying to fight the REAL MEN
The Haaretz editor in chief has a lot of explaining to do. I totally agree, this was outrageous journalism. Our poor soldiers tried to do their best to save this woman. It should have been highlighted as such. For shame!
Slow down not, , clean up the rats surrounding Abbas , he seems incapable of doing your job
What a confusing and inciteful title/article arrangement. Whether the author was out of words or not, he should not have put all these incidents together, and gave them the respect they aught to have. Its as he was saying "oh and by the way a pregnant woman died at WB checkpoint. Now, moving along to next headline..." I agree with Ari, there is just no connection here!
No. 1, 2 and 3: IDF killers anyway!!! what's strange about the headline.
and I admit it. But look 3 out of 3 ALL stating basically the same thing.....could it prove something PERHAPS?
The headline is very misleading.
Or is this just another attempt by Ha'Aretz to feed the anti's who come swarming to this site & comment without READING the contents of the article. It's only a matter of time before the vultures come to feed.....that is if they aren't already @ #1. We await clickfool's words of wisdom on this one!!
I think that someone on Haaretz staff is interested in causing more enmity and unhappiness in this region than there is already. A little bit of forethought might have shown you what people would make of the conflation of the two ideas. Just read the Talkback comments that will doubtless accuse the IDF of brutality on the basis of your carelessness or worse. Busha!
The Ha'aretz headline "IDF kills gunman; pregnant woman dies at army checkpoint", is irresponsible journalism because it give the impression at first that the woman died as a result of IDF gunfire. When one reads the text it is of course clear that there is no connection with the two incidents, which took place at different times and locations. A more responsible headline might have read, "IDF soldiers try and save life of pregnant Palestinian". The stories should not have been run together unless very carefully edited. It would not take much for extremist Palestinians to turn this story around and place the death of the unfortunate woman on Israel and the IDF. Please show some journalistic responsibility and tell things as they are.