Israeli raid against Hamas kills three gunmen, one child.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Joel Greenberg

JERUSALEM _ Israeli forces carried out a large-scale raid against Hamas militants in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, killing three gunmen and a 9-year-old boy, demolishing three buildings and leaving dozens of people homeless, the army and Palestinian residents said.

The sweep into Ramallah, the base of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, came as a senior American envoy was working to revive the Middle East peace plan known as the road map, and as Palestinian factions prepared for talks in Cairo on a possible cease-fire with Israel.

The raid also coincided with the gala inauguration in Geneva of a model peace accord reached by Israeli opposition figures and Palestinian politicians.

Israeli officials dismissed suggestions that the raid _ the first major operation in weeks _ was timed to offset the Geneva Accord, which has been sharply criticized by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as subversive, and that it undermined attempts to reach a cease-fire.

Israeli Col. Roni Numa, who commanded the raid, said the timing was determined solely by intelligence data. "The decision on timing was a decision of the tactical echelons and has no further meaning," he said.

Dozens of Israeli armored vehicles and jeeps swept into Ramallah after midnight, and special forces and other troops fanned out in several neighborhoods, searching homes for suspected militants. An army spokesman said 29 people were arrested.