Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinian militants in Jenin attacks

At least 10 Palestinian militants were killed in Israeli operations inside the West Bank yesterday.

In a morning raid on the Jenin refugee camp, Israeli soldiers shot dead at least five armed militants – four from Islamic Jihad, and one from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. That followed the killing of five militants in the nearby West Bank village of Tamoun during the night.

At 7am local time, about 10 Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers, backed by helicopters, entered the ruins of Jenin refugee camp, where Amnesty International has accused the Israeli army of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in fighting last April.

The tanks surrounded a house where the Islamic Jihad militants were about to go to sleep, after returning from a night spent on watch. Reports from Jenin said the soldiers opened fire on the building immediately, three helicopters firing before the tanks moved in. Brigadier-General Gershon Yitzhak of the Israeli army said soldiers broke into the house and, when they found the militants armed, "shot them".

Residents of the Jenin refugee camp described hearing those inside the house calling for help. A fifth militant, believed to be from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, opened fire on the soldiers from the rooftop. The soldiers returned fire and killed him. Brigadier-General Yitzhak also claimed soldiers opened fire on a sixth militant who was trying to flee the scene, and who might have been killed. That claim could not be verified.

The Israeli army has an openly stated policy of assassinating Palestinian militants, and the militants would have had reason to fear they were about to be killed. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has recently pointed to a rising number of cases in which the army says militants were shot while resisting arrest.

Reports from the refugee camp said the soldiers had prevented ambulances from reaching the victims. Obstructing ambulance crews and medics from reaching the wounded was one of many violations of the Geneva Conventions committed by Israeli forces in Jenin last April, when one nurse tending a wounded man was shot dead.

In a similar earlier incursion into the West Bank village of Tamoun on Thursday night, five Palestinians were killed. The Israeli army said at least three were members of the militant organisation Hamas. More than 30 Israeli armoured vehicles, including tanks, moved into the village, and soldiers starting searching house to house.

The militants barricaded themselves in a house near the municipality. During an exchange of fire, one of them dropped a bag of explosives on to Israeli soldiers from the window, but there were no reports of Israeli casualties.

Palestinians accuse the Israeli army of exploiting the fact that international attention is focused on Iraq to step up its operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile in Israel the fall-out continued over the army's shooting of two Israeli security guards who were mistaken for Palestinian militants on a road near Hebron. Soldiers at a lookout post who had been warned a militant attack was imminent saw a car pull over and one of the security guards get out of it, carrying a weapon, and the order was given to open fire. The car was hit with 200 bullets. "We've said for a long time that the firing orders are too lax," said Lior Yavne, of B'Tselem. "The soldiers see suspicious figures, fire first and ask questions later."