Israelis kill 5 as powers meet on peace map

GAZA - Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in a raid by tanks and helicopter gunships on a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, witnesses and hospital officials said.

They said a helicopter missile strike killed three unarmed civilians and troops shot dead a 24-year-old gunman.

In the West Bank town of Qalqilya, witnesses said soldiers firing from jeeps also killed a 14-year-old boy standing outside his home.

The Israeli Army, which has reoccupied much of the West Bank and carried out numerous raids in Gaza during a 30-month-old Palestinian uprising for independence, had no immediate comment.

The incident, and an Army roundup in Tulkarm, came as envoys from "the Quartet" - the four powers drawing up a road map to secure peace in the Middle East - agreed to meet in Brussels today to work on their plan.

Despite Washington's appeals for calm, Israeli-Palestinian violence has continued sporadically since the start of a US-led war on Iraq last month.

Witnesses said helicopters roared overhead as about 30 Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers accompanied by armoured bulldozers penetrated Rafah, a tough camp near Gaza's border with Egypt, just after midnight.

They said one helicopter fired a missile into a group of people who had gathered outside to watch the armoured column rumble in. The blast sprayed shrapnel through the area, killing three people and wounding three.

Residents said armed militants rushed in after the air strike and engaged in fierce gunbattles with soldiers.

The objective of the incursion was not immediately clear. Israeli forces have raided the camp before to hunt for militants, demolish buildings and destroy cross-border weapons smuggling tunnels.

The Gaza raid followed an Israeli Army sweep in the West Bank town of Tulkarm on Wednesday in which troops rounded up hundreds of Palestinians three days after a suicide bomber from the area struck a nearby Israeli seaside town, injuring 30 people.

Palestinian officials denounced the operation, accusing Israel of intensifying its clampdown on the Palestinians while world attention was turned to war in Iraq.

Israel said the sweep for militants was justified by security concerns.

Palestinian witnesses said about 2000 people were brought in. The Israeli Army said it was about half that number. Eleven were identified as wanted militants and taken into custody, the Army said.

It said most others were freed after identity checks and some were still being questioned.

The United States, chief mediator in the conflict, is now preoccupied with war in Iraq and facing rising anti-American resentment in the Arab world.

It has urged Israel to restrain military operations and called on Palestinians to curb attacks.

It was the largest round-up in Tulkarm for a year and came after a militant from a nearby village blew himself up outside a cafe in the Israeli town of Netanya on Monday, wounding 30 people. Islamic Jihad called it a "gift" to the Iraqi people.





An Israeli Government official said: "The Army carries out continuous security operations in the territories to thwart terrorism, including the murderous attack in Netanya."

Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said: "We urge the international community not to allow Israel to exploit war on Iraq to escalate its suppressive measures against the Palestinian people."

Also yesterday, Israeli forces demolished the Hebron home of a militant whom the Army said had shot dead an Israeli and carried out other attacks.

- REUTERS