According to the IDF, soldiers foil a suicide bombing when they stop a Palestinian taxi at a checkpoint nr. Nablus to search passengers; one of the passengers emerges fr. the vehicle wearing an explosive belt, runs toward the checkpoint; soldiers fire on the man, detonating the belt, killing the bomber, another Palestinian passenger. In Khan Yunis, 4 masked Palestinian gunmen kidnap German International Comm. of the Red Cross (ICRC) rep. Nikolai Panke as he is distributing food to Palestinians; Panke is released unharmed 11 hrs. later; 1 of the kinappers reportedly is a fmr. PSF officer who was “frustrated” over the loss of his job, wanted to be rehired. The IDF bars an ambulance transporting a wounded Palestinian across a checkpoint, allowing the man to die; fires rubber-coated steel bullets at Palesthian schoolchildren on their way to classes in Jenin r.c., wounding 5; directs tank fire at a 12-yr.-old Palestinian boy playing in a field, seriously injuring him; bulldozes 15 dunams of land in Dayr al-Balah; fires on residential areas of Rafah; conducts arrest raids in Tubas. (HA 11/7; NYT, WP 11/8; PRCS press release 11/10; LAW, PHRC, PR 11/13)
Thursday, November 7, 2002