Israeli soldier killed during West Bank arrest raid

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian gunmen on Wednesday
killed an Israeli soldier in a gunbattle during an arrest raid
in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said.

It was Israel’s first military fatality in action since the
Jewish state pulled out of the Gaza strip following 38 years of
occupation in September. Israel regularly carries out arrests
in the West Bank and has killed several militants during the
raids.

“The soldier was killed after an Islamic Jihad operative
surrendered without resistance in the northern West Bank
village of Yirka. He was shot during a gunbattle afterwards and
died on his way to hospital,” an Israeli army spokesman told
Reuters.

Over the past week, Israel has carried out numerous strikes
against militants in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, killing
13 Palestinians, mostly gunmen. The northern West Bank has been
a focus for military arrest raids since Israel’s Gaza pullout.

The Israeli attacks followed an Islamic Jihad suicide
bombing in an Israeli coastal town and cross-border rocket fire
by the group, which said it was avenging Israel’s killing of a
West Bank commander on October 24.

The incident came a day after Israel killed two Palestinian
militant commanders in a missile strike in the Gaza Strip,
triggering vows to “open the gates of hell” for revenge attacks
against the Jewish state.

A week of bloodshed, including the killing of five Israelis
in a suicide bombing last Wednesday, has deflated hopes that
the

Gaza pullout in September would revive peacemaking.