MIDDLE EAST: Israeli troops kill 3 Palestinians in Gaza, one Israeli wounded Hebron

Violence continued to surge on Thursday (October 26) as Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians in Gaza and Palestinian militants shot and wounded an Israeli in the West Bank. A Palestinian police officer was shot near Khan Younis, a town in southern Gaza, after Israeli troops entered a village and exchanged fire with Palestinian security forces, witnesses said. Doctors said the man died later from his wounds. The Israeli army said forces operating in the area came under attack and returned fire. One Israeli soldier was wounded during the exchange, it said. In a later incident near Khan Younis an unarmed Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, witnesses said. A spokesman said the army was checking the report. In the north part of the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man near the town of Beit Hanoun, residents said. Witnesses said the man was catching birds on farmland when the soldiers opened fire. Later on the day tens of men attended the funeral procession for the man in Gaza city. An army spokesman said soldiers in the area identified three people approaching the border in a suspicious way. Israel has been conducting an offensive in the Gaza Strip since the abduction of one of its soldiers on June 25 by a group of militants, including members of the governing Islamic faction Hamas. The soldier is still being held. More than 250 Palestinians, around half of them militants, have been killed during the offensive, hospital officials and witnesses have said. Also on Thursday, Palestinian gunmen shot and wounded an Israeli settler from the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba near the Palestinian town of Hebron, witnesses said. The man was attacked as he was driving his car, and was forced to slow down due to obstacles that were placed on the road. The man was moderately wounded and treated in the site. He was later transferred to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.

ITN Source | October 27, 2006

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