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Israelis, Palestinians exchange fire
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli soldiers engaged in a "massive exchange of fire" early Wednesday with Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza refugee camp of Khan Yunis, the Israel Defense Forces said. An IDF spokesman said the Palestinians opened fire on the Israeli forces after they were sent there to check out "suspicious activity." The Israeli forces fired back. There was no immediate word on casualties. The incident happened shortly after midnight, with the situation quieting about an hour later. Israel dispatched helicopters to the region afterward, but they did not fire, the IDF said. In other action, two Palestinian militant leaders were killed late Tuesday in an Israeli military operation in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, according to witnesses and Palestinian medical sources. The men were killed when the house they were in was destroyed, the medical sources said. It was unclear whether the house was destroyed by an airstrike or by tanks. Some witnesses reported seeing planes overheard, but Israeli tanks were also in the region. The IDF had no immediate comment. The medical sources identified the two killed as: Allah Sabagh, regional commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement; and Imad Nasharti, regional head of the Izzedine al Qassam, the military wing of Hamas. The U.S. State Department designates both groups as terrorist organizations. Earlier Tuesday, Israeli troops in Gaza demolished the house of Muhammad Abu Huli, a suspected Hamas activist Israel accuses of killing a soldier and attacking a Jewish settlement. Four Palestinians were injured -- one of them seriously -- by gunfire during the operation, Palestinian security sources said. The IDF said its troops returned fire after being attacked. The IDF said it arrested three Palestinians wanted for questioning. Abu Huli is still at large. The IDF said Abu Huli was responsible for sending a Palestinian attacker who killed an Israeli soldier Friday and for firing mortars and anti-tank missiles at the Kfar Darom settlement. The troops found parts of mortar bombs in his house, Israeli officials said. U.N. probes Jenin shootingMeanwhile, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency was investigating the death of one of its workers shot last week by the Israeli army in the West Bank, as more questions arose about exactly what happened. A spokesman for UNRWA said Tuesday that Iain Hook -- a British national managing the Jenin refugee camp -- was shot in the back as he tried to organize the evacuation of his staff in the U.N. compound in the camp. No military activities were under way at the time, the spokesman said. Maj. Peter Lerner, spokesman for the Israeli Civil Administration for the West Bank and Gaza, released a tape recording Tuesday of a message he received from Hook on his cell phone that day. He said Hook asked for assistance because Palestinian militants were attempting to break down the walls of the UNRWA compound. Lerner did not say at what time the call came in, and the recording's authenticity has not been verified. Sources close to the UNRWA investigation told CNN that at some point in the morning of November 22, militants were trying to get into the compound through a wall or a fence. "According to eyewitnesses, Mr. Hook went outside and approached them. Upon seeing armed men, he told them, 'You can't come in here, you are endangering the U.N. staff. Go away,'" one of the sources said. The Israeli army acknowledged Saturday that an initial investigation showed IDF soldiers shot Hook after seeing him holding an object resembling a pistol. Israel Radio reported Saturday the man was holding a cell phone. The IDF did not confirm that report. The IDF said shots were fired at its soldiers from inside the compound. UNRWA said only its staff members were inside the compound at the time. There also was a dispute about the aftermath of the shooting: Palestinian sources said the ambulance trying to reach Hook was held up by Israeli forces and that he died at the scene. An IDF statement said it tried to evacuate Hook immediately and that he died en route to the hospital. Israeli forces entered Jenin Friday morning as part of a military operation that followed a suicide bombing in Jerusalem Thursday in which 11 Israelis died, including four children. The IDF said the inquiry found that Palestinian terrorists fired from UNRWA headquarters at Israeli soldiers there to arrest Abdullah Naji Wahesh, "a senior terrorist in the Islamic Jihad responsible for numerous terror attacks," including one in October that killed 14 Israelis and wounded more than 50. Israeli officials accused Palestinians of using civilians as shields during the fight. "In one of the incidents, a terrorist opened fire from behind a woman holding a UNRWA flag," the IDF's statement said. "In these incidents, the forces operating under strict rules of engagement did not respond in a manner which could endanger innocent civilians."
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