Israeli troops pull out of Nablus after 4-day sweep

updated 10:30 p.m. ET Jan. 5, 2008

NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli troops wound up a four-day sweep of wanted men and munitions caches in the West Bank town of Nablus, and residents confined at home since the operation began ventured outside to survey damage and resume their lives.

But violence continued Saturday in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military regularly battles Palestinian militants firing rockets at Israeli towns. On Saturday, Gaza militants fired 26 mortar shells and seven rockets into Israel, the military said. The Popular Resistance Committees, a group allied with Hamas, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

One Hamas police officer was killed late Saturday in an Israeli strike in a part of northern Gaza often used by rocket squads, and three other Palestinians were critically wounded, according to Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza health ministry.

The Israeli military said its ground troops targeted and hit two armed men in Gaza but gave no additional details.

Israel has largely scaled back its operations in the West Bank, controlled by moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Israel is holding peace talks.

More than 40 reported wounded
But Palestinian officials said more than 40 people were wounded in the Nablus operation, which together with ongoing Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Gaza, has cast a shadow on an upcoming visit by U.S. President George W. Bush.

A leading Palestinian militant was hiding under a house where the Israeli military detonated seized explosives on Saturday. But he was pulled out the rubble unharmed and paraded through the streets on the shoulders of cheering supporters.

The military confirmed that the raid had ended but would not say whether it had targeted the militant, Abu Ghazalah, whose Knights of the Night group is loosely affiliated with the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"These are essential defensive measures being taken against an ever-growing terrorist infrastructure, one which continuously plans and perpetrates attacks against Israelis," Israeli government spokesman David Baker said Saturday.

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