Soldier killed, three hurt near Nablus

An Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded on Friday when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on them near Nablus. According to reports, Israel warned the Palestinian Authority that it was considering renewing its operations in the territories following the incident.

Such a move would be a reversal of Israel's announcement that it would halt operations ahead of the election for Palestinian Authority chairman, due to take place today.

Sergeant Yossi Atiya, 21, of Petah Tikva, was killed close to 3:30 P.M. on Friday and three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in the shooting. An Israeli civilian was lightly injured in the incident.

Armed with Kalashnikov rifles, the two gunmen parked near the Migdalim settlement and waited at the roadside, signaling to Israeli cars to slow down, eyewitnesses said. Some said the two were in IDF uniform, but this has not been confirmed.

First, they shot at a car driving west. The driver was lightly wounded but continued driving until he reached an IDF barricade at the Tapuah junction and reported the attack. The assailants opened fire at another car carrying four IDF soldiers on leave. Atiya, a paratrooper, was fatally wounded in the head. The other three soldiers were also wounded, one seriously and two lightly to moderately. One of them got out of the car and shot back at the gunmen, but they fled from the site unhurt.

The soldiers were taken by ambulances to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where Atiya died shortly after arrival.

Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, assumed responsibility for the incident. IDF sources said this was a rogue cell that refused to obey the Palestinian Authority's call to stop the attacks. They said the attack was probably intended to disrupt the elections for the PA leadership.

Settlers said the IDF had made the attack possible by removing roadblocks in the area for the Palestinian elections. IDF sources denied this vehemently, saying that no roadblock was removed in the Nablus area.

They said the Palestinians would be permitted to pass through the roadblocks if they proved they must get to a city or leave it in order to vote.

Abbas criticized the attack. "There is no justification for this operation, but there are a lot of reasons behind it," he said at a news conference.

Three Palestinians were killed in different incidents in the Gaza Strip over the weekend. IDF troops near the Gush Katif junction shot dead a Palestinian policeman on Friday, after he entered an area declared off-limits to Palestinians. An unarmed Palestinian was shot to death near the Ganei Tal settlement. IDF soldiers shot and killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man walking near the Gaza settlement of Netzarim, Palestinian security officials said.