Israel Continues West Bank Incursion

Israeli forces backed by dozens of tanks and a helicopter swept into the West Bank city of Nablus in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday, witnesses said.

The army confirmed there was a military operation under way early Wednesday, but did not comment further.

Troops fired machines toward the Balata refugee camp on the eastern side of the city, in an apparent response to a roadside explosion set off by Palestinians in the area, witnesses said.

Israeli tanks moved into the city center and took up positions around the Old City quarter of Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters fired four missiles on a suspected weapons-making workshop in downtown Gaza City early Wednesday. This was the second such strike on the site in two days, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

The attack demolished a car repair shop that had been severely damaged in a similar pre-dawn attack on Monday. The strike took place shortly before 2 a.m., and the shop was empty at the time. There were no reports of casualties.

Shop owner Deab Fasiah insisted his shop has nothing to do with producing weapons.

"I challenge the Israelis to give me any evidence that my place had been used to produce anything except spare parts for cars," Fasiah said just minutes after the attack.

An army spokesman said the missile attack targeted a workshop believed to produce mortar shells and rockets, and came in response to recent firing of mortar shells and rockets from Gaza toward nearby Israel communities.

The incursion comes a day after Israeli leaders began a military response to a Palestinian shooting spree Sunday that killed five Israelis, including a mother and her two young sons.

Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that if he is elected prime minister he would force Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian territories.

"The new government's first order of business would be to expel Arafat. I would expel Arafat," Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

Netanyahu, who is challenging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the leadership of the rightist Likud Party, has been calling for Arafat's expulsion for months.

But his remarks took on added significance now that he is in the government and seeking to lead the party favored to win the most seats in Israel's general elections, set for Jan. 28.

Sharon's government has on several occasions discussed the possibility of sending Arafat into exile, but has refrained from taking such action. The United States, Israel's strongest ally, opposes such a move.

Israel has threatened a tough response to Sunday's shooting spree on a communal farm, Kibbutz Metzer, in northern Israel, which included the death of a mother and her two young sons in their home and provoked widespread outrage here.

Ironically, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger, Kibbutz Metzer is a dovish kibbutz that has close relations with its Arab neighbors and supports the creation of a Palestinian state.

"We still have good relations (with the Arabs)," said Doron Lieber, a member of the agricultural cooperative (kibbutz).

However, the community had been warned that there was an attack planned against it and had held drills, CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier reports.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia loosely linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, but the Palestinian leader denied Fatah was involved.

"It's not from Fatah," he said at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "This is not the first time for me to be blamed for such an action. You should not forget that we have condemned it immediately."

The Al Aqsa group says it is loyal to Arafat, but also insists it carries out attacks without seeking permission or informing the Palestinian leadership.

After Tuesday's military action in Tulkarem, where Israeli officials said the attacker came from, there were expectations of an impending army assault on Nablus, where they say the attack was planned.

However, it was not clear whether Israel's military, which has been in and out of Nablus and other West Bank cities for months, can do significantly more than it has already done. Israel has already destroyed much of the Palestinian infrastructure and is currently detaining some 4,000 Palestinian men.

Tracking down individual attackers, has often proved a difficult task that has taken the Israeli forces weeks or even months. So in responding to past attacks, Israel has frequently gone after easier to find targets, such as Palestinian Authority offices, or carried out broad arrest sweeps.

In choosing a response, Israel also appears to be restrained by U.S. pressure. While the Americans have supported most Israeli military actions, the United States wants to avoid a further escalation in the region at a time when it is preparing for a possible attack on Iraq, and seeks the support of the Arab world.

Two-year-old Nafez Mashal was killed Monday by Israeli army fire from a nearby outpost while he was playing ball with other boys, Palestinians said. The Israeli army denied troops targeted children, saying soldiers responded after coming under fire.

The other boy, Mohammed Abu Naja, died from wounds he suffered on Oct. 17.