Jewish Settlers Fired On After Incursion

Palestinians fired on Jewish settler enclaves in divided Hebron on Friday, hours after a brief Israeli incursion into the Palestinian-controlled sector of the city in retaliation for earlier shooting attacks.

The latest gunfire came even as Israel’s defense minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, warned that no Palestinian attack would go unanswered.

“There will be no situation in which they send terrorists or continue shooting . . . and we will sit quietly and not respond,” Ben-Eliezer said on Israeli television.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people turned out in the West Bank city of Nablus for a rally led by the Islamic militant group Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction.

About 50 Fatah men brandishing guns arrived in cars, while about 150 Hamas activists appeared in robes meant to symbolize the death shrouds of suicide bombers.

Hamas and Fatah have been cooperating in the fight against Israel that erupted 11 months ago. Hamas has carried out a series of suicide bombings, and Fatah gunmen have targeted Israeli civilians.

In a smaller gathering, dozens of Fatah gunmen marched with about 500 people in the Palestinian section of Hebron.

Shortly after the rally, gunmen opened fire on two settler enclaves. Israeli troops there returned fire, Palestinian witnesses said. An Israeli tank fired several shells, including one that hit a building and set it on fire, the witnesses said. The army said it was checking into the report.

In other violence Friday, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli troops at two locations in the Gaza Strip, and nine youngsters, ages 11 to 18, were wounded by Israeli fire, hospital officials said. A 12-year-old boy was in critical condition. The army said that in both cases, soldiers fired at the stone-throwers’ legs after they came too close to military outposts.

In a separate incident, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and her uncle were wounded by what Palestinian security officials said was unprovoked Israeli fire while the two sat outside their home in Gaza City. The girl was in critical condition, doctors said. The army said it was investigating.