MIDDLE EAST: Israel clamped a closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip late on Thursday night and will keep the territories sealed until the end of the Jewish holiday of Purim on Monday amid warnings that Palestinian militant groups are trying to carry out attacks.
Closures, which keep thousands of Palestinians from their jobs inside Israel, are routinely imposed on major Jewish holidays. But the latest sealing off of the territories also comes as the militant Hamas movement is vowing revenge for an Israeli assassination strike earlier this week in Gaza that killed three of its operatives.
A 10-year-old Palestinian boy, injured in another targeted hit last week in the Gaza Strip, yesterday died of his wounds.
Tension is also high because this Purim weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the bloody attack in Hebron when Baruch Goldstein, a settler from Kiryat Arba, walked into a mosque in the West Bank city and opened fire, killing 29 Palestinians.
An opinion poll published yesterday indicated that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's credibility ratings continue to dwindle. The poll, in the daily Yediot Ahronoth, found that 57 per cent of respondents believe Mr Sharon is not a trustworthy leader, up from 51 per cent last month. A majority in the poll - 53 per cent - said he should resign, while 43 per cent said he should not.
The drop in Mr Sharon's ratings has been attributed to several public scandals to which he has been connected.