Not much more info, except that there are at least 30 people injured also. IDF soldiers are engaging the attackers, the firefight is ongoing.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2002

Answers

At least 11 Israelis killed, twenty wounded in Hebron shooting attack By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent and Agencies

At least eleven Israelis were killed and 20 others were wounded, some seriously, Friday evening when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of worshippers and IDF soldiers accompanying them near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Gunmen, who came from the vicinity of the Palestinian neighborhood of Abu Sneineh, ambushed the Israelis, hurled grenades at them and opened fire.

Heavy gun battles ensued between Palestinians and Israeli security forces. Due to the gun battles, Magen David Adom rescue workers experienced difficulties in evacuating some of the wounded. IAF helicopters assisted in evacuating the wounded.

Senior defense officials held urgent consultations following the attack, while senior officers made their way to the scene to plan a response.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last month the IDF stopped patrolling most areas of Hebron controlled by the Palestinian Authority, although troops in certain of areas of the city. The troops were instructed not to patrol most Palestinian neighborhoods, although several visits were made to houses overlooking settlers' homes.

Some 450 Jewish settlers live among 130,000 Palestinians in Hebron, which was divided into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled sectors under an interim peace deal in 1997.

17-year-old Palestinian killed in clashes with IDF troops in Nablus A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed during clashes with IDF troops in the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, Palestinian hospital officials said. Witnesses said Imran Shilah was among youths who were throwing petrol bombs and rocks at Israeli armor. IDF officials said that soldiers fired at individuals who hurled explosives at them.

Earlier in the day, IDF troops arrested 18-year-old Tanzim activist Mohammed Shushtani in the Old City of Nablus, on suspicion of planning a suicide attack within Israel.

Shushtani was arrested along with seven other wanted terror suspects who were detained on Thursday night and Friday morning throughout the West Bank.

Among those arrested were two members of Hamas' military wing, Suliman Ali Bashrat and Ahmed Mustafa Tawfiq, who are suspected of involvement in shooting and bombing attacks in the territories.

A senior IDF officer said that the premature publication of the army's incursion into the West Bank city of Nablus, which entered its third day on Friday, forced the military to change its planned operation in the city, Israel Radio reported.

According to the officer, some of the wanted Palestinians in the city fled as a result of the early publication but "80 percent of the arrests planned in the refugee camps were carried out."

The officer said that the curfew over Nablus will be lifted in the next few days, but that the IDF operation in the city will continue for several more weeks until the army meets all of the goals it set for itself before the incursion.

A senior IDF officer told Army Radio in Nablus told Army Radio Friday that troops were digging in and had arrested 14 suspected ilitants. "We are at the beginning of the operation," said the officer, who gave only one name, Yehuda. "The name of the game is patience, and determination."

Sharon says army prepared to stay 'for weeks' in Nablus Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday that the IDF was prepared to stay "for many weeks" in the West Bank city of Nablus, one day after hundreds of troops entered the West Bank city as the army began its latest major military operation.

Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon toured the Nablus area Thursday, where they were breifed by soldiers in the field and observed the city refugee camps in the area.

During the visit, Sharon said the IDF will remain in Nablus for a longer time than it did in Jenin, where less than two weeks ago, troops spent more than two weeks carrying out operations. "We are prepared for many weeks," Sharon said.

The army said that the Nablus operation has been planned for weeks and is the result of the increase in attacks emanating from the city. It began two days after a Palestinian gunman infiltrated Kibbutz Metzer in northern Israel and killed five people, including a mother and two children in their bedroom. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday that the operation is "not limited" in time.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2002