Four Ramallah residents were shot and killed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers in clashes during an operation to apprehend a wanted man yesterday. More than 30 Palestinians were hurt, and one soldier was slightly injured.

According to the army, the soldiers shot armed men who opened fire on them. However, Palestinian sources said three of those killed were throwing stones.

Palestinian sources identified the dead as Milad Abu-Aris, Jaafer Khaled, Aysar Kasam and Ra'ad Rabakh, all in their 20s

Around 2 P.M. yesterday undercover soldiers approached Manara Square, near the center of Ramallah, in a civilian car. The IDF rarely operates in this area during the day. The soldiers entered a high-rise and arrested Mahmoud Shubaki, the head of the Islamic Jihad's military wing in Qalqilyah.

Security sources said Shubaki moved to Ramallah at the beginning of the year to establish a terror network that would operate relatively close to Israeli territory. The terror organizations have found it harder to dispatch terrorists over the Green Line from the northern West Bank.

The arrest itself was relatively uneventful; the soldiers confiscated a weapon from the Palestinian policeman at the entrance to the building, and Shubaki did not resist arrest. The soldiers were out of Ramallah in about 40 minutes.

However IDF forces in uniform and military vehicles had entered the city, and thousands of young men streamed into the square. Dozens began throwing stones and concrete blocks at the soldiers.

The IDF said five armed Palestinians shot at them and the soldiers returned live fire and rubber-coated steel bullets.

The Palestinian sources said no one fired at the soldiers, and those killed were stone-throwers and a Palestinian policeman, who had also not fired. The Palestinian sources said the soldiers were firing indiscriminately.

TV footage shows the soldiers shooting fairly intensively. Long volleys can be heard in the background, although the shooters are off camera and cannot be identified. The violent protest is unmistakable.

Subsequently, four IDF vehicles were hit with blocks and broke down, and the troops inside had to be extricated while under attack by the angry mob. Some of the soldiers left the jeeps and took cover in shops along the street. It took two hours to get the soldiers out of the city.

IDF sources told Haaretz their initial investigation showed the troops had acted properly. "Clearly we would have preferred for the operation to go smoothly, without Palestinian casualties. But innocent people or children were not hit. The soldiers were shot at and returned fire."

In other sweeps yesterday, seven other wanted men were arrested in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

Two Qassam rockets were fired yesterday from the northern Gaza Strip; one hit an unoccupied house in Moshav Netiv Ha'asara and caused damage.

The second rocket landed on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing.

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