Israeli troops kill Palestinian teenagers

Israeli soldiers have shot dead three Palestinian teenagers on the edge of a refugee camp in southern Gaza.

Witnesses say they were killed trying to retrieve a football in a no-go area near the Egypt border; the Israeli army says it is investigating the report.

It is the most serious such incident since Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared a ceasefire in February.

Hours later, Palestinians fired mortars at Jewish settlements in Gaza, without causing any injuries.

The Palestinian Authority called the killings a "serious violation" of the truce.

'Warning shots'

Witnesses said the group of boys came under fire when they tried to retrieve a football.

"The kids ran after it [the ball], and that's when we heard gunfire," Ali Abu Zeib, a 22-year-old Rafah resident, told the Associated Press news agency.

Reports said at least two of the dead boys were 14 and 15 years old.

The BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says the youths had approached a zone along Gaza's border with Egypt, which is occupied and heavily defended by Israeli troops.

He says Israeli military sources say that the youngsters had entered an area along the frontier that is strictly forbidden to Palestinians.

The sources say that warning shots were ignored and then the teenagers were fired at, our correspondent says, noting these are the first Palestinian deaths in violence in Gaza for weeks.

Saeed Siyam, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the killings would be avenged.

"The Palestinian people cannot stay silent in the face of this crime and it cannot pass without punishment," AP quoted him as saying.

The Unicef deputy executive director, who had been visiting Rafah on Saturday to launch a polio campaign, condemned shooting.

"This sad event hits me particularly hard because I been in the area just a few hours earlier, interacting with Palestinian children," said Toshiyuki Niwa.

"These kids were just being kids when their lives were cut short."

Rocket attack

Following the shootings, Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad fired at least 14 mortars at Jewish settlements in Gaza.

It is the first time militants have fired rockets at Jewish targets since February when Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas ordered security forces to prevent such attacks.

An Islamic Jihad leader, Mohammed Hindi, told a news conference the truce with Israel remained intact, but called for Palestinians factions to "re-evaluate the situation".

The violence comes amid heightened tension ahead of a planned mass rally on Sunday on the disputed Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).

The demonstration is being organised by Israelis who want to rebuild a temple on the site.

Palestinian militant groups have threatened a violent response if protesters reach the al-Aqsa Mosque in the hilltop compound.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4428351.stm

GAZA, April 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Saturday vowed to revenge the Israeli killing of three Palestinian teenage boys in the town of Rafah between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt.

"The crime of killing the three teens will never pass without a punishment and our people cannot stay with their hands handcuffed for such crimes," said Sa'eed Seyam, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza.

"This criminal act and this massacre indicate that Israel doesn't respect the Hudna, or the ceasefire that we have all signed upon," he added.

The Hamas leader went on to say that the ceasefire that the group agreed upon is mutual and as long as Israel practices its aggressions and killings, it should then carry the responsibility and the sequences for such attacks.

Earlier, three Palestinian teenage boys were shot dead by Israeli troops' gunfire in the town of Rafah near the borderline between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The deadly shooting is the first incident that Israeli troops sprayed gunfire at Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 13 Palestinian factions and militant groups including Hamas declared a conditional ceasefire in an inter-Palestinian dialogue held in Cairo in mid March.

Palestinian militant groups agreed to keep calmness and halt attacks on Israeli targets till the year end provided that Israel stops violence against Palestinians and releases Palestinian prisoners.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/10/content_2808835.htm

Israeli troops killed three Palestinian teenagers in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, triggering mortar attacks on Jewish settlements and militant threats to abandon a truce.

In further tension, more than 10,000 Palestinian protesters warned of a new uprising if right-wing Israelis enter a religiously sensitive Jerusalem site, revered by both Muslims and Jews, on Sunday.

The killings were the first since militants agreed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in March to abide by the ceasefire, and leading militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas issued warnings to Israel but stopped short of ending the truce.

"So far, the Palestinian factions have not declared an end to the calm, but they are studying the issue anew because of continued Zionist aggression," Islamic Jihad chief Mohammed al-Hindi told a news conference.

Any surge in violence could complicate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pullout plan.

Mr Sharon and George W Bush at talks are due to hold talks at the President's Texas ranch on Monday.

Mr Bush backs an international peace "road map".
Conflicting accounts of killings

The circumstances surrounding the killing of the Palestinian youths were disputed by Israel and the Palestinians, but Mr Abbas called it a deliberate violation of the truce he and Mr Sharon declared at a summit in Egypt in February.

"The Palestinian youths who were killed were unarmed children and did not pose a threat to Israel," Mr Abbas said in a statement.

Local residents said the youths were playing soccer in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza when Israeli soldiers shot them dead.

An Israeli military commander said troops spotted five youths crawling in a buffer zone controlled by Israel, near the Egyptian border.

The youths then started running toward Israeli territory, prompting soldiers to fire warning shots, he said.

"They crossed into our territory and then an army force identified them and opened fire on them with light weapons, seeing as they had infiltrated," he said, adding the army had summoned Palestinian police and ambulances to the scene.

The commander, who declined to be identified, said Palestinian security personnel arrested two youths who were with those killed, adding the pair had said they intended to cross into Egypt to smuggle weapons from that country into Gaza.

A spokesman for Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yousef said of the commander's comments: "It is an incorrect and baseless report."
Truce fears

Israeli-Palestinian violence had dropped sharply since the truce agreements.

After the killings, Hamas said it fired 11 mortar bombs and 11 Qassam rockets at Jewish settlements and Israeli army bases in southern Gaza. No casualties were reported.

The Israeli army said 25 mortar bombs had landed in settlements.

Israeli police have said they would bar Jewish right-wingers from entering the Jerusalem site revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

The site includes the al-Aqsa mosque - Islam's third holiest site.

The police have increased their presence in Jerusalem and Israel's Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra has said he feared the right-wingers would seek to provoke tensions at the site to stop Mr Sharon's plan to evacuate settlers from Gaza.

"If the Zionists defile al-Aqsa mosque, they will be planting the seeds of the third uprising," a senior Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan, said in Gaza.

Militants had threatened on Friday to abandon their truce in a four-and-a-half-year uprising against Israel if the right-wingers tried to enter the site.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1341885.htm

A truce is only possible when no Palestinians get killed or wounded by Israelis or when no Israeli fires at Palestinian targets. Everything else is a breach of the "truce".

Three Palestinian youths were shot dead by IDF troops near an army base in the southern Gaza Strip Saturday.

In response to the shooting, the Palestinians fired 27 mortar shells at Gush Katif settlements and IDF positions in the area. One house in the region sustained damage.

The army said a group of youths had entered an unauthorized area near the border with Egypt, began running towards an IDF position and ignored warning shots to stop. The shots were fired by forces patrolling the area in an armed vehicle, the army said.

An Israeli commander at the scene said the youths were spotted crawling on their stomachs deep inside a closed military zone. He said three of the youths got to their feet and began running toward the border. The teenagers were about 250 meters (yards) into the closed area when they were shot on a military patrol road near the border, he said.

"These kids were not playing soccer," said the commander, whose name was withheld under military regulations. "They knew what they were doing. You don't get there by accident."

Israeli defense officials said that according to an initial probe carried out by Palestinian Authority security officials, the three were involved in a weapons smuggling attempt.

The incident in the Rafah refugee camp, located along the border with Egypt, shattered weeks of calm in Gaza following a cease-fire declaration by Israel and the Palestinians.

Ali Abu Zeid, a 22-year-old Rafah resident, claimed the group of boys were playing soccer in an open area when the ball was kicked toward the border fence. "The kids ran after it, and that's when we heard gunfire," he said. Palestinian hospital officials said two of the dead youths were 14 and 15 years old.

Hamas pledged to avenge the deaths of the three teens.

"The Palestinian people cannot stay silent in the face of this crime and it cannot pass without punishment," said Saeed Siyam, a Hamas leader in Gaza. He would not comment on whether Hamas remained committed to the truce.

A top leader of Islamic Jihad said that the group will continue to honor a cease-fire with Israel, despite the fatal shooting.

Mohammed al-Hindi said, however, that the group should reevaluate the cease-fire and said the group reserves the right to retaliate against Israel for Saturday's shooting.

"The state of calm is as it was," he told a news conference. "The truce that was declared was from two sides, and our right to resist and our right to retaliate against a crime of the occupation is agreed upon."

"The Palestinian factions must now meet and re-evaluate the situation. For now, we are committed to the quiet," he added.

The Rafah refugee camp has been a frequent flashpoint of fighting since violence broke out in late 2000. The IDF frequently operates in the area to halt weapons smuggling across the border.

But violence has dramatically dropped since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas declared a cease-fire on Feb. 8. Last month, Palestinian factions signed on to the truce at a meeting in Cairo.

Since Feb 8th, six Israelis were killed in Israel and Gaza and seven Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Abbas' office issued a statement saying he was "shocked" by the shooting of the youths in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. Residents said the teenagers were playing soccer at the time.

"The president severely condemns the killing, and considers it a violation of the truce that we agreed on" in Egypt on Feb. 8. "We will not accept our children being killed in this way."


http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1113025482014

Come on now people Isreal and Palastine should learn to play

nice!

But since they obviously are not able to get along with eachother

why should we even bother with them?