Israeli tanks and troops entered the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn Friday, hours after Palestinian gunmen killed six Israelis in an attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.
Palestinian sources said about 50 tanks and a number of armoredbulldozers entered Nablus from three directions at around 4:00 a.m.(0100 GMT), meeting no resistance.
There were reports of sporadic gunfire by Israeli soldiers, whoannounced over loudspeakers an imposition of a curfew. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The operation was the latest one Israel staged in retaliation against a new wave of Palestinian attacks in the past three days, including two suicide bombings in Jerusalem that killed 26 people.
On Thursday, Palestinian gunmen infiltrated a house filled withchildren in the Itamar settlement and opened fire. Six people, including a mother and her three children, were killed.
Earlier this week, Israel announced a change in its ways to retaliate against Palestinian terror attacks, saying further terror attacks will invite Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian-ruled territories.
(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2002)
