Linda Gradstein has been the Israel correspondent for NPR since 1990. She is a member of the team that received the Overseas Press Club award for her coverage of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the team that received Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism for her coverage of the Gulf War. Linda spent 1998-9 as a Knight Journalist Fellow at Stanford University.
Israeli troops and armored vehicles pull out of the West Bank city of Nablus after a two-day security operation, leaving behind a trail of smashed cars, broken windows and angry Palestinians. It was the largest military sweep in the West Bank in months. Israeli officials say Nablus has become the center of planned attacks on Israel.
Israel's Security Cabinet approves a wider ground offensive in south Lebanon, authorizing troops to push to the Litani River some 18 miles into Lebanon. Israel says the operation should last about 30 days. Currently, 10,000 soldiers are fighting Hezbollah in a narrow band of Lebanese territory that is about four miles deep.
The Israeli Cabinet voted overnight to expand ground operations in southern Lebanon. Israel Radio reported that the number of ground troops in Lebanon will more than double. Despite growing international calls for a cease-fire, Israeli officials say the offensive against Hezbollah could last for weeks.