Israeli troops raiding a West Bank bomb lab killed three Palestinians yesterday, including two Hamas members, prompting threats of revenge from the Islamic militant group's military wing. An Israeli soldier also died.
However, the five-week-old truce between Israelis and Palestinians was thought likely to survive. Hamas political leaders suggested privately they would not call off the cease-fire, and in public statements refrained from making threats against Israel.
The gun-battle marred a period of relative calm since Palestinian militants declared a unilateral cease-fire on June 29th.
Friday's firefight near Nablus in the northern West Bank began before dawn, when soldiers surrounded a Hamas hideout to arrest two suspected bombmakers, Khamis Abu Salem and Fayez Sadder, said the raid commander, Col. Arieh Knafo.
As the soldiers approached, shots rang out from inside the three-story apartment building, Knafo said. An Israeli soldier, 20-year-old Roi Oren, was killed.
The soldiers returned fire, killing one of the Hamas activists, and the second was buried under the rubble when an explosion tore through the building, which housed a bomb lab containing dozens of pounds of explosives, the colonel said.
A third Palestinian died in a hospital of a gunshot wound, hospital officials said. Witnesses said he was shot when soldiers fired on Palestinian stone-throwers during the raid.
The Israeli army denied using live ammunition.