Israeli Raid in W. Bank Went Awry, Army Says

An elite Israeli army unit’s raid Saturday night on a West Bank village to capture a leader of the militant Hamas Islamic movement went badly wrong, the army chief of staff said Sunday.

Three Israeli soldiers killed during a gun battle with Mahmoud abu Hunoud might have been hit by “friendly fire,” Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz said. A fourth soldier, who was wounded, also might have been shot by his comrades. Abu Hunoud was slightly wounded but escaped, surrendering later to Palestinian security forces in nearby Nablus.

It was the most casualties the army has suffered in a West Bank operation since 1996. Senior army officers and political leaders here seemed stunned by the raid’s outcome.

“There was a very grave mishap,” Mofaz told a news conference. He said he had appointed a special panel to investigate the raid and expects to know in a few days what happened.

Hamas leaders praised Abu Hunoud on Sunday, saying he successfully fought off the troops single-handedly, although the Israeli army said it captured a second Hamas militant, whom it identified as Nidal Ghallamseh, 36, during the raid on Assira Shamaliya. The army said the gun battle took place at Ghallamseh’s house, which troops bulldozed Sunday morning.

The army would not say how many soldiers took part in the raid.

Palestinian Authority officials denounced the Israeli operation.

“The raid against the village is condemned and rejected particularly at a time they [Israelis] are talking about peace,” Palestinian peace negotiator Ahmed Korei told Voice of Palestine radio. Hassan Asfour, another Palestinian peace negotiator, said the Israeli soldiers died because the army failed to coordinate its raid in advance with the Palestinian police.

The village lies in a part of the northern West Bank that is under Palestinian civilian control and Israeli military control. The army said it notified the Palestinian Authority of the raid when it began, and praised the Palestinians for cooperating.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak described the deaths of the three soldiers as “a serious and painful operational mishap” but vowed that Israel “will continue to fight with all its forces against terrorism despite the very heavy price.”

The three soldiers were identified as Liron Sharvit, 20; Niv Yaacobi, 20; and Roi Even Filsteiner, 21. All three held the rank of first sergeant and were serving in the Duvdevan unit, whose members often dress as Arabs during operations in the West Bank.

Earlier this month, another Duvdevan unit shot and killed an elderly Palestinian man during a raid on the West Bank village of Surda. The man reportedly mistook the soldiers for thieves and opened fire on them. The army later apologized for his death.

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh defended the raid on Assira Shamaliya, a village of 8,000 that lies about one mile north of Nablus. The village, Abu Hunoud’s hometown, is considered a Hamas stronghold by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

“We don’t know yet what went wrong,” Sneh said. “What we do know for sure is that the operation saved the lives of dozens of Israelis by preventing a spectacular terrorist operation which could be carried out by Abu Hunoud.”

The Israelis suspect Abu Hunoud of masterminding a 1997 bombing at Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s central food market, that killed 18, including two suicide bombers, and several other attacks both inside Israel and in the West Bank. Abu Hunoud was an apprentice of Yehiya Ayash, also known as “The Engineer,” who masterminded a string of suicide bombings against Israelis in the mid-1990s before he was killed in an Israeli undercover operation in 1996.

Israel Radio reported that Barak might ask the Palestinian Authority to hand over Abu Hunoud. But a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip said Sunday that the organization had received assurances from the office of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat that Abu Hunoud would not be given to Israel.

“A step like this [surrendering Abu Hunoud] will not be accepted by Hamas or any Palestinian,” Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Zahar said.

Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have said recently that Hamas has stepped up its efforts to launch attacks in the territories and inside Israel in an effort to thwart ongoing peace negotiations. Hamas opposes a negotiated settlement. The movement has watched with concern as Israel and the Palestinians have tried to conclude a final peace treaty that would resolve such sensitive issues as the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

In July, Palestinian police said they had uncovered a Hamas bomb factory in Nablus. The army said Sunday that Abu Hunoud was suspected of organizing that factory.

Earlier this month, Israel said it broke up an Islamic ring linked to Osama bin Laden, the Saudi militant who is wanted by Washington in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Authorities arrested several Palestinians and Arab Israelis on suspicion of planning attacks in Israel and the West Bank.