Unexploded shell blast responsible for schoolchildrens’ deaths

Five Palestinian children, aged between seven and 14, were killed in a Gaza Strip blast today after one of them hit an unexploded Israeli tank shell as they walked to school.

A Palestinian security commander, Colonel Khaled Abu Ola, said the shell had been fired at the Khan Younis refugee camp in the last two days.

‘‘One of the schoolboys apparently hit the shell and it went off, killing him and four of his friends,’’ he said.

Both sides were quick to tie the incident to a new US effort to enforce an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire.

Two US mediators - William Burns of the US State Department and retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni - are expected in the region next week.

‘‘This is how (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is welcoming the American delegation, with more bloodshed of our children,’’ said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, the secretary general of the Palestinian Cabinet.

Arieh Mekel, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said that with the impending arrival of the US team, ‘‘we can’t ignore the possibility that they want to use the incident for purposes of propaganda.’’

Sufian Abu Jamea, 15, said he was about 300 yards away from the blast. ‘‘I heard the explosion. I turned to see from where it came. I saw parts of a leg flying in the air. Then I ran away,’’ he said.

Two of the dead were identified as 14-year-old Mohammed Al-Astal and his seven-year-old brother Akram.

The area has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops guarding the nearby Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal.

In the West Bank, meanwhile, Israeli forces raided Azzarieh, a Palestinian suburb of Jerusalem, and shut down three offices of the Palestinian Authority.

The military said the offices were shut down to ‘‘prevent terrorist activity’’. In a separate incident, three armed Palestinians crashed a jeep into an Israeli factory near the town of Tulkarem, opened fire and injured two workers.

The renewed tensions came amid increasing US pressure for peace talks between the two sides.

Israel is demanding seven days without violence before starting implementation of peace accords.