Israeli Army Thrusts Into West Bank City

Israeli troops led by 150 armored vehicles rolled into Nablus and entered the narrow alleyways of the Old City early today, residents said, in apparent retaliation for a bombing that killed seven people, including five Americans, at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

Soldiers left their tanks and armored personnel carriers and moved into the alleys, trading gunfire with Palestinians, and at least two Palestinians were killed, witnesses said.

The militant group Hamas said Wednesday’s university bombing was revenge for an Israeli attack last week in the Gaza Strip that killed the leader of its military wing and 14 civilians, most of them children.

“Nablus serves as a focus of activity of terror groups, led by Hamas and Fatah,” the Israeli army said. It said soldiers conducted searches and arrests there.

In the nearby village of Salem, Israeli soldiers shot to death a Hamas activist, Amjad Jubur, 28, a neighbor said.

The incursion was the largest since Israel took over seven of the eight main West Bank cities and towns starting June 20.

Nablus had been under tight curfew, its residents ordered to stay in their homes for six weeks with only a few short breaks, although they defied the stricture for three days this week before some Israeli troops moved back into the city center Wednesday.