One Palestinian killed in confrontation with the Israeli forces

The Palestinian Yahya Subhi al-Dayah ( 48) year old was killed in the intensive tanks bombardment by the Israelis of al-Mighraqa area to the south of Gaza.

The Israeli forces carried out a large scale mopping up operation in Hebron and its surrounding under the pretext of having information that the Palestinians will carry out suicide operations in that area.

Meantime, the Israeli army reinforced its presence in the cities of the West Bank and Gaza, where confrontations continued between the Palestinian youths and the Israeli soldiers who used live bullets in the confrontations near the settlements of Natsareim, Ghoushe Kateive and Neven Dekalim.

One explosive went off in an Israeli military base near Bethlehem as an Israeli patrol was running nearby.

On the other hand, a Palestinian source stressed that the Israeli army closed Rafah crossing and launched an arrest campaign against several Palestinians in Haifa.

Earlier an explosive went off when an Israeli military vehicle was running to the north of Tel Aviv. One Israeli soldier was wounded when a bomb was thrown at an Israeli position near Rafah and fire was opened at a car for the Israeli settlers on the ring- road in Nablus.

Meantime, the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon refused sending UN forces to the Arab territories. Upon presiding over a meeting for his government on Sunday Sharon explained that the idea of sending UN observers to the West Bank and Gaza is just a very bad idea, stressing that this matter has not been proposed by any international side and that he will refuse even the idea if it will be debated in future.

Meanwhile, the Israeli President Moshe Katsav stressed that his government studies the possibility of directing a painful blow at the Palestinians, even if such a measure will provoke negative reactions at the international level.