Israelis kill seven Palestinians in clashes

AT least seven Palestinians were shot dead and an Israeli officer was critically wounded during heavy clashes in this northern Gaza town, while Israeli troops also carried out raids in the West Bank.

Medical and security sources said that at least five of the Palestinian victims were armed militants, four of them from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and a fifth from the armed wing of the Islamist movement, Hamas.

Dr Mahmud al-Asali, head of the Kamal Adwan hospital in Jabalya refugee camp, named the Brigades fighters as Yussuf al-Zaanin, Nasser Abu Khirdid, Zaher Abu Khirid and Naim al-Qafarna, all in their 20s. The group is loosely affiliated with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

The fifth man was named as Nahed Abu Awda, aged around 40, and a member of Hamas' Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades military branch.

The identities of the other two victims were not immediately known. Medics said that one of the bodies had been recovered by an ambulance team from Beit Hanun, but was being prevented from returning to hospital by soldiers who had opened fire on their vehicle. An army spokesman said that an Israeli officer was also critically wounded. "As part of the ongoing operation in Beit Hanun, forces were operating on the outskirts of the town when Palestinians opened fire, critically wounding an Israeli soldier," the spokesman told AFP. "A massive exchange of fire then took place, during which troops identified hitting four gunmen."

At least 10 other Palestinians were injured in the incursion, two of them seriously, al-Asali said.

Witnesses reported seeing another four bodies on the field of the battle, although it was not clear whether they were dead or injured.

The latest violence brought the toll since the September, 2000, start of the Palestinian intifada to 4,169, including 3,173 Palestinians and 925 Israelis.

The gunfight erupted when Israeli troops pushed into the town centre, backed by Apache helicopters which intermittently opened fire on the gunmen.

Meanwhile Israeli troops raided three West Bank charitable organisations early yesterday and arrested eight wanted militants during a wide-ranging series of raids across the territory, sources on both sides said.

Troops pushed into the north-western city of Qalqilya and raided the offices of a charity linked to Hamas, confiscating computers, files and other literature, Palestinian security sources said.