Five killed in Israeli raid

Israeli troops killed two gunmen and three teenagers when they raided a Gaza town today as Palestinians marked Naqba Day, the anniversary of their displacement during the creation of Israel in 1948.

The military operation, one of the largest in recent months, came two days before the first Israeli-Palestinian summit since 2000, and a week ahead of talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President George Bush on a new peace plan.

The raid targeted the town of Beit Hanoun and came in response to rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, the army said. During the raid, troops demolished five houses of Hamas militants and exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen.

Doctors said that for four hours, troops prevented ambulances from evacuating the dead and wounded.

Among those left unattended was a 12-year-old boy, Mohammed Zaaneen, who was shot in the head and eventually carried out of the combat zone to an ambulance waiting on the outskirts of town. He died en route to a hospital, doctors said.

In the past, troops have kept ambulances from areas of fighting. An army commander, Colonel Yoel Strik, would only say he was unaware of the boy’s death.

Also killed were two 15-year-old boys and two gunmen, doctors said. Seventeen Palestinians were wounded.

Beit Hanoun resident Marwan Shabat, 55, said the incursion was a continuation of Al Naqba, or catastrophe, the Palestinians’ name for the events of the 1948 Mideast war when about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes.

“The Naqba for the past 55 years has been the same, but if the occupiers think they can uproot us from our town, they are mistaken,” said Shabat, a school teacher. He said troops broke into his home, smashed furniture and beat three of his sons during the raid.

Hours later, about 15,000 people filled the streets of Gaza City and hundreds turned out in the West Bank city of Ramallah to mark the Naqba.

In Gaza City, demonstrators fired rifles into the air, waved Palestinian flags, and wore T-shirts with a picture of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

At noon, a three-minute siren rang out in parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Motorists stopped their cars. Thousands of marchers held up their fingers in a V-for-victory sign and Palestinian legislators placed their hands over their hearts.