Killings of three Palestinian youths strain truce

GAZA - Israeli troops have killed three Palestinian youths aged between 14 and 16 in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics say, triggering mortar attacks on Jewish settlements and militant threats to drop abandon a truce.

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.

An Israeli military source said troops opened fire after five Palestinians ignored warning shots and crossed into Israel in an area where militants smuggle in weapons. The army had launched an investigation into the incident, the source said.

In further tension, more than 10,000 Palestinian protesters warned of a new uprising if right-wing Israelis hoping to derail Israel's plans for a Gaza pullout enter a religiously sensitive Jerusalem site, revered by both Muslims and Jews, on Sunday.

"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 and pose a new challenge to Sharon and George W. Bush at talks at the US president's Texas ranch on Monday. 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 Abbas called it a deliberate violation of the truce he and 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," Abbas said in a statement.

Local residents said the youths were playing soccer in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza when Israeli soldiers, metres (yards) away, 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. He said the two 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."

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 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 4-1/2 year uprising against Israel if the right-wingers tried to enter the site.

- REUTERS