Israel raids jail, seizes militant

Palestinian gunmen also kidnapped nine foreigners, including an American professor, and aid agencies pulled their foreign staff out of Palestinian areas.

The Palestinians blamed the Jericho raid, which left three Palestinians dead, on Britain and the US which removed their monitoring mission from the jail just before the soldiers went in.

It was the most high-profile Israeli incursion into a Palestinian town in months and came two weeks before Israeli elections. Palestinians condemned the raid as a campaign stunt.

The raid came amid a breakdown in a carefully crafted 4-year-old deal between the Palestinians, Israel, the US and Britain over the guarding of the prisoners, and it underscored the wider collapse of relations between Israel and the Palestinians. since the militant

Israeli officials said recent statements by Palestinian officials and Hamas leaders of plans to release the prisoners, combined with the withdrawal of the monitors, forced them to act.

“We couldn’t have a situation where murderers would be walking around free instead of being behind bars,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Israel was targeting Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat, who ordered the assassination of the Israeli Minister, and four others accused off carrying out the killing. —SARAH EL DEEB