Policeman and boy, 13, shot dead in Gaza
The army also arrested dozens of people in a major sweep for militants across the West Bank, Palestinian witnesses said. Palestinian security sources said Israeli troops entered the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and fired at a police station, killing policeman Khaled al-Khatib.
Muain al-A'daini, 13, was shot dead as the troops withdrew, they said.
The army said it went into Deir al-Balah after gunmen fired on troops in the area, but did not confirm any deaths. Hospital officials in Jenin said Imad Abu Zahra, 35, a Palestinian freelance reporter, died in hospital after he was shot on Thursday as the army re-imposed a curfew without warning.
A Palestinian press photographer was also wounded but survived. An army spokesman said the men were shot after two of its armoured vehicles were disabled in a collision with an electricity pole, drawing a crowd of angry, armed Palestinians.
In Paris, the media watchdog group Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders) said it had added Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to its list of enemies of press freedoms following Abu Zahra's death.
RSF said apart from the two journalists now killed, more than 40 had been wounded by Israeli army fire since the start of the conflict in September 2000. "The Israeli army acts with total impunity. It is intolerable. How many deaths will there have to be before the army stops attacking the press?" RSF chief Robert Menard asked.
The Israeli military says its soldiers are under orders not to harm journalists. In the West Bank city of Qalqilya, relatives and security officials said Jamal Youssef A'rar, 37, shot by Israeli forces on Wednesday, died of his wounds in an Israeli hospital. A'rar, they said, was shot while going home after a curfew began. Tensions remained high in the West Bank, where Israeli forces have reoccupied seven of the eight Palestinian-ruled cities following suicide bombings against Israelis.
Palestinian witnesses said the army carried out new raids on Palestinian-ruled cities and villages. The army confirmed 15 arrests but Palestinian witnesses put the figures much higher.
Residents of Jenin, which Israel calls a hotbed of militancy, said soldiers called men aged 15 to 50 to the centre of the city and then took more than 100 away in a bus before releasing most of them later in the day.
Meanwhile, resisting international pressure that he leave office, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared yesterday he would not step down but also said he hadn't decided whether to run for office in January elections.
I have been elected by the people. I am not a coward. I'm not ready to betray the people who elected me," he said. Mr Arafat spoke as negotiations were reportedly in progress over the fate of a Palestinian whose popularity according to recent polls is second only to that of Arafat, Marwan Barghouti, a key leader in the West Bank of Arafat's Fatah movement.
Israel Army Radio said that under a deal taking shape between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas on prisoner exchanges, the imprisoned Barghouti would be expelled to Lebanon for exile in Europe.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
