Troops kill Palestinian teenager as three others die

FOUR Palestinians were killed yesterdayin separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including a teenager who was shot dead when rock-throwing Palestinians clashed with Israeli troops.

In Gaza, a Palestinian gunman disguised in Israeli army uniform opened fire on a military outpost near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, but was shot and killed by troops within a minute, said the Israeli battalion commander.

The gunman, carrying an assault rifle and eight grenades, was from the militant Islamic Jihad movement, the group said.

Later, another Palestinian was killed and 12 wounded when Palestinian militants attempting to fire a mortar shell at Israeli positions near the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel mistakenly hit Palestinian labourers returning from work in Israel, Palestinian security officials said.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, a Palestinian bystander was shot and killed during a gun battle between Palestinian militants and Israeli troops attempting to arrest them.

The militant, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, linked to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, said members of the group opened fire at the troops when they emerged from unmarked cars.

In Jenin in the West Bank, Palestinian Motez Odeh, 16, was killed and 23 Palestinians were injured, when hundreds began throwing stones, household items and metal objects at eight Israeli armoured vehicles that entered the town, witnesses said.

In another development yesterday(OK), the Israeli media reported that the army’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon, had advocated the overthrow of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and said that most Israeli settlements would eventually have to be evacuated as a condition of any peace deal.

Lt Gen Yaalon and other military officials quickly denied the media reports.