IDF armored and engineering corps forces and infantry troops took control over much of the West Bank city of Tulkarm early Monday morning. The action marked the first time Israeli troops have taken over an entire Palestinian city since the start of the Intifada.

Local residents reported that two Palestinians were killed, including a 19-year-old youth, and nine others were injured during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the city. As part of the operation, the IDF also surrounded the two adjacent refugee camps - Tulkarm and Nur Shams - but refrained from entering them.

The operation was ordered because Tulkarm is a "focus of terrorism" and the source of many recent attacks, the IDF Spokesperson's Office said. The IDF reportedly informed the Palestinian Authority in advance that the operation would be directed at terrorist infrastructure in the city and not at PA security forces.

Tulkarm Governor Izzedine Sharaf said "Israeli army entered Tulkarm from all sides and started to take over houses and imposed checkpoints inside the town." He said that Israeli tanks entered the city shortly after 3 a.m. as helicopters hovered above. A Palestinian security official said that some 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers participated in the raid.

Forces conduct search for suspected terrorists
The IDF imposed a curfew on the city and performed a house-to-house sweep for suspected militants. According to witnesses, IDF troops commandeered eight buildings, including a local college and the mayor's residence, raising Israeli flags on rooftops. They also took over the police operations room and detained two Palestinian policemen. A number of arms caches were also found during the operation.

Several dozen suspected Hamas and Tanzim activists were reportedly rounded up for questioning. Ynet reported that the IDF arrested eight people suspected of belonging to terrorist organizations. Palestinians reported the arrest of Abed al-Karim Marmash, the brother of the man responsible for a suicide bombing in a Netanya shopping mall in May.

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources reported that mosques in Tulkarm are calling on the town's residents to leave their homes and violate the curfew imposed by the IDF, ynet reported. The Palestinians report that clashes have broken out between Israeli soldiers and local residents in a number of locations because of curfew violations.

Nahal Brigade Commander Yair Golan said IDF forces would remain in Tulkarm until they completed the mission's objectives, not longer. "We have not come to settle in Tulkarm," he told Army Radio, "but we will stay here as long as we have a policy of preventing terror attacks which requires our presence within the city."

Golan said that troops would stay in Tulkarm for at least several days. Separate Army sources told ynet that the activity in Tulkarm is one step in a chain of operations that will continue in the coming days.

Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh said the objective of the incursion was to arrest militants and prevent more terrorist attacks, suggesting that other towns may be also targeted. "Mainly in the northern West Bank, there is a very profound infrastructure of terrorist attacks from all organizations which is likely to blow up among us at any time in the most deadly fashion," Sneh told Army Radio.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the Israeli incursion into Tulkarm, saying that it "crossed all red lines." He told reporters, "This is a very dangerous thing. This is an implementation of the Israeli plan of aggression on the Palestinian National Authority.''

Palestinian senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said the incursion showed that Israel planned to reoccupy in stages all territories turned over to Palestinian controlled under interim peace agreements. "The international community must move to stop this state terrorism which Israel is practicing," he said in a statement.

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