Israeli troops round up 300 Palestinians in W.Bank
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-24 22:23

The Israeli army rounded up more than 300 Palestinians between ages 16 and 50 and formally arrested at least one in a sweep into a West Bank refugee camp on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers escort arrested Palestinians in a school in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus August 24, 2004. [Reuters]

Military sources said Israeli forces were cracking down on Palestinian militants in the city of Nablus, a militant bastion. "Anyone proving to have no connection with terrorism will be freed," one source said.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks and troops surrounded Askar refugee camp, ordering males to go to a school for questioning. Three were formally arrested, they said. The army confirmed the arrest of one wanted gunman.

The army has regularly targeted Nablus in anti-militant sweeps during almost four years of fighting with the Palestinians.

In the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem near Jerusalem, troops captured two wanted men in a raid on the French-run maternity hospital, witnesses said. Hospital officials said they were unaware of their presence.

Military sources confirmed the raid on Holy Family Hospital, saying they arrested two leading fugitives from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

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