Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teenagers April 17, 2001 9:28 am EST

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli army sniper shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian with a live bullet to his heart, at a crossing on the Gaza-Israeli border Tuesday, Palestinian hospital sources said. Earlier, Israeli troops had shot dead another Palestinian teen-ager suspected of stabbing and lightly wounding a soldier at a West Bank checkpoint, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

Witnesses to the incident at the Karni commercial crossing in Gaza said no clashes had been occurring when Hamza Abeid was shot. An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was checking the report.

"He fell dead among his friends at the time there were no clashes," said a medical worker stationed at what is a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence.

In the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said a 10-year-old boy had been critically wounded in the head by two live rounds shot from an Israeli tank patrolling the border with Egypt.

They said the boy had been shot on the street where he lived as he left home for a private lesson.

The army said it was checking the report.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarm, Israeli troops shot dead 17-year-old Bassam Zaharan, who was visiting from Jordan, after he stabbed a soldier, a Palestinian security source said.

Zaharan's body was taken by Israel and handed over to Palestinian police overnight, the source said.

The Israeli army said in a statement that Zaharan had stabbed a soldier at the edge of the town early Tuesday and fled. It said its forces had searched the area, found him and killed him.

The deaths brought to the number of dead to at least 379 Palestinians, 71 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs in nearly seven months of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. The violence erupted after peace talks became deadlocked.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001

Answers

BBC - Tuesday, 17 April, 2001, 17:56 GMT 18:56 UK

Israeli army tightens grip on Gaza

Israeli tanks have been digging into positions in Gaza The Israeli army could stay in Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip for months following its incursion into the area overnight, an Israeli general has warned.

Israeli troops moved into several Palestinian-controlled areas of the Gaza Strip, dividing the region into three parts, after five mortar bombs hit the town of Sderot in southern Israel.

The United States described Israel's move as "excessive and disproportionate," but blamed the Palestinians for the latest outbreak of violence with the launching of "provocative" mortar attacks.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement that the fighting threatened to escalate into a broader conflict and called on Israel to pull its forces out of Palestinian-ruled Gaza.

He said the Palestinians for their part should implement their commitment to renounce "terrorism".

The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has described the incursion as an "unforgivable crime".

The BBC's Hilary Andersson says the mortar attack and Israel's military response are perhaps the most significant moment since the start of the Palestinian uprising last September. Each side, she says, is now clearly violating the territorial integrity of the other.

More violence

There have been further clashes, following Israel's fierce air, land and sea strikes on Palestinian security posts during the night.

Israeli troops are reported to have shot dead a Palestinian teenager who had stabbed a soldier.

There are also reports of a police officer being killed at Beit Hanun and a second teenager being shot dead on the Gaza-Israeli border.

Although Israel has said it has no intention of holding onto any Palestinian-controlled territory, Brigadier-General Yair Naveh said: "We will remain in these places for as long as it takes - days, weeks, months."

"We are not conquering a part of the strip," the commander of the army's Gaza brigade insisted.

"It is a protective operation whose function it is to draw a line which will permit our citizens to sleep with greater security."

Palestinians 'shocked'

A BBC correspondent who went to the Gaza Strip said there was a real sense of shock among Palestinians at the Israeli incursion.

"This military escalation is a vicious attempt to bring our people to their knees," said Yasser Arafat.

A Palestinian cabinet minister, Hassan Asfour, accused Israel of tactics amounting to re-invasion.

"It is clear that Israel has expanded the sphere of war with the Palestinians. It has carried out a new and dangerous step by reoccupying Palestinian areas," he told Reuters news agency.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres - the leading dove in a generally right-wing government - said the attack on Sderot "is unjustified and crosses the line. There's a limit to everything."

The Palestinian Authority denies any hand in the firing of mortars at Sderot, 5km (three miles) from the Gaza border - the deepest shelling inside Israeli territory in the past seven months of conflict.

Hamas, the militant Islamic group, has said it carried out the attack.

Targets hit by the Israelis included two bases of the elite Palestinian security unit Force-17, and Gaza City's main police headquarters. There was also more violence in the West Bank, where Israeli tanks fired at villages near the town of Bethlehem.

Peace initiative

A new round of security talks between Israel and the Palestinians had already been cancelled before the Israeli attack on Gaza.

The violence also casts a shadow over prospects for a Jordanian-Egyptian security plan, brought to Jerusalem by Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdulilah al-Khatib.

The initiative is said to call for:

An end to violence by both Israelis and the Palestinians The lifting of Israel's travel restrictions on Palestinians A reduction of Israeli troop numbers in the Palestinian territories An end to the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr Khatib discussed the plan with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Peres on Monday.

Israeli officials have previously expressed reservations about the initiative.

Mr Sharon has said he will not resume political negotiations with the Palestinians until violence stops.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001