JERUSALEM – Israel sent armored vehicles into the flashpoint city of Hebron for the first time in five years yesterday after a Palestinian sniper wounded a child and his brother in a Jewish enclave.
The thrust by about 15 bulldozers and armored personnel carriers was part of a new policy requiring a military response to any Israeli casualties resulting from clashes with the Palestinians.
Palestinian security officers said two Palestinians died when they confronted the Hebron incursion.
Israeli officials did not confirm details of the raid into the West Bank town but it appeared the vehicles came to demolish empty houses on a strategic hill called Abu Sneina.
A sniper fired from the hill earlier yesterday, wounding the brothers, 11 and 21.
Also yesterday:
* The Palestinians claimed an 11-year-old boy was killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.
* Another alleged terrorist, Jihad al-Mussaimi, cheated death when Israeli forces fired missiles at his car near Nablus. Al-Mussaimi, a Palestinian police commander and leader in Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, was wounded but vowed to retaliate.
* Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Arafat said they were eager to meet to discuss enforcing a truce, but no final plans were made.
“I intend to have a series of meetings with Arafat. It will be very complicated,” Peres said.
He said he hopes to reach a cease-fire in several specific areas because Arafat does not have enough control of the Palestinians to enforce a full end of fighting.
But a highly placed source said Israel will not begin a seven-day countdown, leading to realization of the peace plan of former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, until a general cease-fire is in place.
Meanwhile, the United States said yesterday the Israeli government should distance itself from an Israeli deputy minister’s suggestion that security forces kill the relatives of Palestinian suicide bombers.
Deputy Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra made the suggestion on television last week. He has also been reported as saying the remains of suicide bombers should be buried wrapped in animal skins, which some Muslims believe prevents the bombers going to heaven.
“If reports regarding these remarks are accurate, particularly those threatening the families of suicide bombers, they are offensive and reprehensible, especially coming from a senior government official,” said a U.S. State Department official.