World - Reuters
Palestinian Boy, Militant Killed -Medics
Date: Mon, Jul 05, 2004
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the southern Gaza Strip (news - web sites) on Monday shortly after an Israeli was wounded by mortar fire at a nearby Jewish settlement, Palestinian officials and medics said.
In a separate incident, soldiers killed a Palestinian militant and wounded another in a shootout in the West Bank town of Jenin.
The dead militant was identified as Khaled el-Hawi, 25, of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites) movement, medics said.
The al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the mortar attack on the Jewish settlement of Neveh Dekalim.
Elsewhere in Gaza, a column of Israeli tanks advanced toward Jebalya refugee camp in the north and perched on a hill overlooking the area, after militants fired a rocket that struck a beduin house and wounded three occupants, medics said.
Palestinian security officials said the teenager, Ala al-Shaer, was shot dead as he stood in a street in the Khan Yunis refugee camp after militants fired mortar rounds at Neveh Dekalim.
The Israeli source said soldiers had opened fire after the mortar rounds struck the Jewish settlement but could not confirm whether anyone was hurt.
In the mortar attack, an Israeli settler was lightly wounded by shrapnel and taken to hospital, the source said.
Mortar bombs are often fired at Gaza settlements, but seldom cause any injury.
Monday's barrage followed vows made at the weekend by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) to respond to Palestinian rocket attacks. Israeli helicopters bombed two metal foundries in Gaza on Sunday night, wounding six people.
Israeli troops have been deployed for a week around the northern Gaza border town of Beit Hanoun in an effort to prevent rocket attacks, after a 3-year-old boy and a man were killed in a barrage on an Israeli town on June 27.
The Israeli source said the movement of troops toward Jebalya, about two km (one mile) from Beit Hanoun, was part of the same operation and was also designed to prevent rocket attacks.
At least 2,615 Palestinians and 914 Israelis have been killed since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000 for statehood.
SOURCE
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