Palestinian boy 'shot dead'
Buses are a favourite target of the bombers
A Palestinian boy has been killed and 14 others wounded in more violence in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials say.
The officials said the troops opened fire during a funeral procession for a Palestinian policeman near the Khan Younis refugee camp.
In a separate incident, Israeli army radio said at least four people were injured when a car bomb exploded in the Israeli town of Or Yehuda, southeast of Tel Aviv.
The latest incidents follow an explosion on Sunday, when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a bus in a suburb of Tel Aviv, killing one and wounding more than 40 Israelis.
Army 'opened fire'
Witnesses said hundreds of mourners were marching in an orderly fashion in the funeral near Khan Younis when they came under fire from the Israeli post about 500m away. A 14 year-old boy was killed.
The witnesses said that after the shooting gunmen in the procession returned fire on the Israelis.
The Israeli army said it was checking the report.
The shooting coincided with another bomb explosion - the fourth in two days.
Israeli army radio said that according to initial reports, the bomb in Or Yehuda was placed under a car parked in the town's market.
Security forces moved in to seal off and search the area.
Three police officers were slightly hurt in another attack on Sunday evening in the northern coastal city of Haifa. This came after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a bus in a suburb of Tel Aviv early on Sunday, killing one Israeli and wounding more than 40 other Israelis.
Recriminations
Militant Palestinian groups have said they carried out these bombings.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has blamed the Palestinian Authority for the suicide attack, a charge it denies.
He accuses the Palestinians of not honouring an agreement to stop such attacks.
Palestinian officials deny this, accusing Israel of flagrant violations of the Oslo peace aaccords - including sending troops and tanks into Palestinian-controlled territories last week.
But, even as the violence continues, a spokesman for Mr Sharon has said Israel has not rejected a joint Jordanian-Egyptian peace initiative, although he has serious reservations about it.
The plan - which has been accepted by the
Palestinians - would see both sides committing
themselves to stop the cycle of violence as
peace talks were restarted.
-- Anonymous, April 23, 2001