JENIN, West Bank, 27 August — The Israeli Army stormed the northern West Bank town of Jenin yesterday, capturing two Hamas leaders, as violence flared across the Palestinian territories following the fresh invasion by Israeli tanks.

As its plan for a withdrawal from reoccupied areas stalled, Israel continued its sweep for suspected activists in the West Bank and stepped up its military operations in the Gaza Strip.

In the Jenin refugee camp, elite Israeli units captured Hamas’ top political chief in the area, Jamal Abu Al-Hayja, as well as another senior official of the resistance group, Islam Jarrar, Palestinian security sources said. At least two other people were rounded up in the operation, as clashes rocked the densely-populated area.

The Israeli Army reoccupied Jenin and virtually all of the rest of the West Bank following back-to-back attacks in June. In a predawn raid in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, the army blew up the house of Mansour Sharem, an activist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Army mounted several new invasions into Palestinian-ruled areas as its promised troop redeployment from reoccupied areas was put on hold.

Under a joint Israeli-Palestinian security plan agreed upon a week ago and initially dubbed “Gaza, Bethlehem First”, Israeli troops were due to withdraw from areas in the Gaza Strip occupied since the intifada erupted 23 months ago in exchange for a Palestinian crackdown on militants. The Israeli army left the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem, but its presence in the Gaza Strip remains unchanged.

Ben Eliezer insisted that Palestinian security forces were making efforts to implement the plan. At the same time as his boss was seeking to expand his pact with Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razaq Al-Yahya, the newly appointed chief of the Israeli Army, Gen. Moshe Yahalon, warned of the threat stemming from militants.

“Palestinian terrorism is the main threat for Israel because it is spreading like a cancer,” he was quoted as saying by army radio. He stressed that Israel needed to “defeat the Palestinians to convince them it is not possible to achieve any success through violence.” (The Independent)