BBC Sunday, 19 August, 2001, 22:20 GMT 23:20 UK Three die in Gaza clash

A Palestinian activist and his two young children have been killed in fighting near their home in the south of the Gaza strip.

Israel denied direct involvement in the incident, which it blamed on armed Palestinians.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told the BBC there was a shoot-out between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers at a border outpost in the east of the town of Rafah.

She said the Palestinians fired a shoulder-launched rocket at the outpost but it missed, hitting instead the building where the three lived.

Earlier, eye-witnesses reported seeing Israeli helicopters above the town and hearing three explosions.

Israel denied its helicopters were in the area at the time

The dead man was named by Palestinian sources as Samir Abu Zayd, believed to be in his mid 30s. He was an official from the Palestinian Popular Resistance Movement.

His 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son were also reported killed.

Hospital sources told the Reuters news agency that several other people had been wounded in the attack, the fourth Israeli assault on Gaza in 36 hours.

Israeli attack

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli helicopters fired at a position of Force 17, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite force, near the town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

Israel said the attack came in retaliation for Palestinian mortar fire on a settlement in the Gaza Strip, which wounded one Israeli.

Earlier on Sunday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in separate attacks in Gaza and the West Bank.

The bloodshed comes as Palestinian officials dismissed as a "just a trick", signals from Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of new Israeli effort to secure a ceasefire to end 10 months of violence in the region.

Speaking on Israeli television, Mr Peres said he soon hoped to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and that the two sides were already engaged in contacts on "different levels"

A Palestinian official confirmed to the Reuters new agency that Mr Arafat had passed a message back to Mr Peres through a foreign envoy that he was ready to meet the foreign minister at any time.

Missile attack

In the latest violence, a building used by Yasser Arafat's Force 17 was destroyed by two Israeli Apache helicopter gunships, which fired two missiles according to Palestinian security officials.

Israel Radio said it was in response to firing on a nearby Jewish settlement, and that the local headquarters of Palestinian military intelligence had been hit.

The Israeli army also fired two tank shells earlier in the day at a Palestinian police post near the source of the Gaza mortar attack, Israeli sources said.

Palestinian officials said three policemen were wounded in the attack.

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, speaking in the northern town of Tirat Carmel, said the country was engaged in an undercover war against Palestinian gunmen and bombers.

"We are carrying out special activity, I would describe it as commando actions against terror. These are the types of operation that are being carried out, many of them are not known about," he said.

Two Palestinians killed

Earlier Sunday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in separate attacks in Gaza and the West Bank.

The casualty in Gaza was a 13-year-old boy shot in the chest by live fire.

The other death came close to Nablus in the West Bank, when a 38-year-old Palestinian was shot dead trying to avoid a checkpoint in Israeli-occupied territory.

Our correspondent in Gaza says that there are conflicting stories as to what the boy, Mohammed Abu Arrar, was doing when he was shot.

The boy's family says he was on the way to the mosque with some friends when he came under fire.

Other locals said the boys saw a tank on patrol in the border zone and started to throw stones.

But Israeli army says that its patrol was the target of Palestinian fire and six grenades.

An official statement declared regret that Palestinians send youths to throw grenades and fire at the army from populated civilian areas.

On Saturday night, at least two Israeli missiles struck a Palestinian police post just east of Khan Younis, in retaliation for several mortar attacks by Palestinian guerrillas, the army said.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2001

Answers

USAToday

08/20/2001 - Updated 05:54 AM ET Israel says Palestinian militant killed by own bomb

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli army said Monday that a Palestinian militant and his two children were killed by a bomb the man was preparing in his yard, and not by an Israeli missile as the Palestinians alleged. At the man's home, there were no signs of a missile hit. In Jerusalem, Israeli bulldozers demolished two Arab-owned homes with 10 apartments under construction, saying the owners had no building permits. Palestinians say it is virtually impossible to obtain building permits in the traditionally Arab sector, where they say Israel tries to limit Arab population growth. Meir Margalit, a dovish member of the Jerusalem city council, said 40 more Arab-owned homes in east Jerusalem were under threat of demolition. Israel has said it is evenhanded in enforcing building codes throughout the city.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001