Israeli troops backed by more than 100 tanks poured into the center of the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday, killing three Palestinians as Israel hit back for a Jerusalem university bombing in which seven died.
Israeli soldiers went from house to house in the Casbah, or Old City, smashing holes in connecting walls to avoid exposure to gunmen outside, as they searched for militants, detaining at least 30 suspects, witnesses said.
In three West Bank towns, the army demolished four homes, three of them belonging to relatives of Palestinian militants.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the demolitions, which left dozens homeless, as a crime against humanity.
"I am asking for quick international intervention from the United Nations. If they are not able to send forces, they should send observers," Arafat told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Israeli army said the Nablus assault was aimed at rooting out a "local terror network" just two days after the militant Palestinian group Hamas detonated a bomb in a cafeteria at Hebrew University, killing five Americans and two Israelis.
The bodies of two of the Americans were flown home yesterday as the FBI launched an investigation into the attack, which drew words of outrage from US President George W. Bush.
The American deaths seemed certain to complicate US attempts to calm a conflict raging for more than 22 months.
Hamas, dedicated to Israel's destruction, said Wednesday's bombing was part of its revenge for a Gaza air raid last week that killed its military commander, his lieutenant and 13 other Palestinians, including nine children.
After vowing harsh retaliation against Hamas, Israel sent columns of tanks deep into the heart of Palestinian-ruled Nablus, which had been surrounded and under curfew for weeks.
Troops exchanged fire with gunmen as they assaulted their main target, the warren of alleyways in the Casbah.
Palestinian security and medical sources said troops killed a Hamas member in his home in a village on the outskirts of Nablus and shot dead two other Palestinians in the Casbah.
Some 12 hours after the start of the operation, much of Nablus looked like a ghost town, with residents shut inside their homes and tanks stationed at key junctions.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli gunfire killed an 85-year-old woman asleep in her home near a main junction, her son said. The army had no immediate comment.
Half a dozen Israeli tanks thrust into Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, and a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli gunfire, Palestinian security sources said.
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