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Israeli army kills 3 Palestinians on Gaza border

Posted on: Sunday, 9 October 2005, 18:55 CDT

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians near the Israel-Gaza border on Monday, Palestinian medics said, in an incident that could cloud a planned summit between Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week.

The Israeli army said troops had spotted three Palestinians crawling near the Gaza border fence, one carrying a bag. Suspecting it contained explosives, the soldiers shot at the Palestinians after they failed to heed calls to stop.

It was unclear whether the men were militants. Palestinians later brought their bodies to a Gaza hospital and medics said that no weapons were found on them.

The shooting marked the first killings of what the army said were would-be infiltrators since Israel completed its pullout from Gaza on September 12 after 38 years of military rule.

Elsewhere in Gaza, two militants and a Palestinian security officer were wounded in a gunfight in Gaza City in the latest of the internecine Palestinian violence that has increased in Gaza since Israel's pullout.

Witnesses said several bodyguards of a Palestinian security official had tried to stop a car carrying militants from the Popular Resistance Committees. When they refused to pull over, the men opened fire at the gunmen.

One militant was arrested, a security source said.

Rival Palestinian militant groups denounced on Saturday inter-factional violence that has undermined calls by President Mahmoud Abbas for law and order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Abbas had urged militant groups, which have spearheaded the anti-Israeli violence over the past five years, to end what he calls armed chaos and stop carrying weapons in public. Israel and Washington say he should disarm them to promote peace.

Aides to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas met on Sunday to prepare for a planned summit this week, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. No breakthroughs are expected at the meeting, which both leaders have said could be postponed.

Both sides want to improve their standing in Washington's eyes ahead of Abbas's White House talks with U.S. President George W. Bush scheduled for October 20. The United States hopes the pullout will serve as a catalyst for renewed peace efforts.

Abbas and Sharon are each expected to use the summit, their first since June, to demand that the other carry out commitments agreed at a cease-fire conference in February.

Abbas will press Israel to free more Palestinian prisoners and hand over security control of more West Bank cities, which could improve his standing with the Palestinians. Sharon will push Abbas to disarm militant groups dedicated to Israel's destruction.

(Writing by Corinne Heller in Jerusalem)

Source: REUTERS

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