Terror Suspect Killed in Israel

Israeli troops killed the suspected mastermind of a Tel Aviv suicide bombing Tuesday, and Israel’s interior minister threatened to revoke the citizenship of Arabs involved in bombings or shooting attacks on other Israelis.

Early today, at least 15 tanks and armored vehicles backed by helicopters pressed into the northern Gaza Strip, firing shells and machine guns at houses and searching for suspected militants, Palestinian security officials and residents said. A 28-year-old Palestinian died after being shot in the head, hospital officials said.

The army said it was checking the report.

The tanks remained about half a mile from the entrance to the Jabaliya refugee camp, where a major incursion in March left at least 18 Palestinians dead. They began to withdraw about two hours after entering.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had been bracing for an Israeli response after a suicide bomber from the Islamic militant group Hamas killed nine people on a bus in northern Israel on Sunday. Hamas uses the Gaza Strip as a key base of operations.

Despite the hard-line policies, Israelis and Palestinians appeared to be trying to work out cease-fire proposals that could lead to Israeli troops leaving some Palestinian areas.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met the Palestinian interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, late Monday, and more talks were planned. Yehiyeh and other Palestinian officials were to leave today for talks in Washington with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

Near the northern West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli forces killed the suspected mastermind of a Tel Aviv suicide bombing and another militiaman in a firefight, residents said Tuesday.

Both men were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement. One was Ali Ajouri, 23, accused by Israel of sending two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in Tel Aviv on July 17. Three foreign workers and two Israelis were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military said troops encountered the two wanted men in Jabaa village and killed them in a chase.

Israel’s interior minister, Eli Yishai, from the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, threatened to revoke the citizenship of Israeli Arabs involved in carrying out attacks on Israelis.

“If I stop one terrorist from killing one Jew, not to mention more than that, it will be worthwhile,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

Attempts to stop suicide bombings continued. A 16-year-old Palestinian girl was brought before an Israeli magistrate Tuesday in Jerusalem on suspicion that she planned to carry out a suicide bombing.

The girl shuffled into the courthouse, handcuffed and shackled. Her lawyer denied police claims that she had confessed to planning an attack.