3 Settlers Slain in W. Bank

A gunman sneaked onto the grounds of an Orthodox Jewish high school in the West Bank late Tuesday and killed three teenagers, even as Israeli troops continued their daily raids into Palestinian towns.

The man shot and killed three Israeli students outside a high school in the settlement of Itamar, near the Palestinian city of Nablus, settlers and rescue service officials said. The attacker was shot and killed by the settlement’s security chief.

Hezi Katoa, a rescue service worker, told Israel Radio that one student was found hit by a number of bullets in the chest and that two more were “lying behind the building with bullet wounds all over their bodies.” All three were dead at the scene, he said.

A few hours earlier, one Israeli motorist was killed and another wounded in a shooting attack, apparently by a Palestinian gunman, near the Jewish settlement of Ofra, said rescue services spokesman Yeruham Mandola.

The violence accompanied repeated Israeli incursions into Palestinian towns in the West Bank.

Late Tuesday, Israeli soldiers entered Beitunia, a suburb of the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinians said, and surrounded the house of a prominent Hamas leader. However, the man, Hassan Yusef, was not there. The Israeli military had no comment.

In another development, Israel launched the spy satellite Ofek-5, displaying advanced missile capabilities and restoring a military eye in the sky after its last spy satellite burned up in the atmosphere about a year ago.

Defense Ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikay confirmed that the satellite was sent into space from a seaside Israeli air force base. It was launched by a Shavit missile, related to the long-range Jericho ground-to-ground missile. Foreign experts have said the Jericho can carry a nuclear warhead; Israeli officials have not commented on that.

Israel’s latest sweep in the West Bank came after a Palestinian blew himself up outside an ice cream parlor and cafe crowded with women and children in a Tel Aviv suburb Monday, killing a woman and her granddaughter.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, linked to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, claimed responsibility and identified the bomber as Jihad Titi, 18, a cousin of leading Al Aqsa militant Mahmoud Titi, who was killed in an Israeli tank attack last week.

On Tuesday, troops in armored personnel carriers and jeeps drove into the city of Jenin and a nearby refugee camp about 3 a.m. and left by midday. They arrested eight people, including Rami Awad, the local leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas. Soldiers also searched an Islamic school, seizing computer disks, residents said.

There were heavy exchanges of fire with Palestinian gunmen.

In Bethlehem to the south, Israeli forces combed the town for the third straight day Tuesday, blocking off the Church of the Nativity to prevent gunmen from taking refuge there.

During Israel’s earlier offensive, several dozen gunmen ran into the church ahead of Israeli forces, setting off a 39-day standoff that ended with the deportation of 13 of the militants.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians and discovered a bomb and some weapons in the Dahaisha refugee camp next to Bethlehem, Palestinian security officials said.