Hamas activists killed in Israeli raid

Israeli soldiers killed three Hamas activists and destroyed a house in a village south of Gaza City early today as Palestinian factions worked to wrap up details of a three-month halt to attacks against Israelis.

Israeli forces entered the village of Mujarkha before daybreak, apparently looking for Adnan al-Houl, a local Hamas leader, and surrounded his house. In an exchange of fire, three Hamas activists were killed, including a cousin of Adnan Al-Houl, who was not at home at the time. During the raid, soldiers destroyed the house.

Palestinians said the Israeli military was holding the bodies of two of the dead and had turned over the body of the third.

Israeli military sources would say only that an operation was in progress in the area, and one Israeli soldier was slightly wounded.

Israeli forces have tried several times to kill or capture al-Houl, killing his son in a previous raid, Palestinians said.

The Israeli raid began around 4.30am local time (2.30am Irish time), and the echoes of gunfire could be heard in nearby Gaza City.

The Israeli operation came as Palestinian groups were working on a cease-fire declaration after agreeing to a temporary halt to attacks.

Yesterday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said it would be announced within hours, but officials from two militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said additional work needed to be done.

Islamic Jihad official Mohammed al-Hindi told The Associated Press that his group had completed its internal discussions about the cease-fire and would begin talks with other groups to coordinate their positions. A Hamas leader said the same.

The agreement for a three-month truce was worked out between Marwan Barghouti, West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, and heads of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Damascus. Barghouti is in an Israeli prison, held while on trial for alleged complicity in Palestinian attacks that killed 26 Israelis.

Some officials expected the formal announcement to be made before the arrival tomorrow evening of US President George W. Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, but al-Hindi said the Palestinians would work according to their own needs.

Violence continued yesterday.

Israeli troops intercepted four Palestinians carrying two backpacks stuffed with explosives, killing two in a clash and capturing the others.

Earlier, a Palestinian teenager fatally shot an Israeli phone company technician near the West Bank before he was seriously wounded by a security guard and captured. A militia linked to the Fatah movement claimed responsibility.

Palestinians also fired several mortar shells and home-made rockets at a Jewish settlement in Gaza and an Israeli community bordering the strip. In the West Bank, Israel tore down the house of a Hamas militant who allegedly recruited suicide bombers.

Late yesterday, an Israeli motorist was seriously wounded by Palestinian gunfire near Bethlehem in the West Bank, the military said.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a militia linked to Fatah have carried out scores of bombing and shooting attacks against Israelis, killing hundreds of people on buses and public places.

A truce could help end 33 months of violence, a necessary prelude to a US-backed peace plan aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by 2005.

While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not commented on the emerging deal directly, he said yesterday that Israel’s military might has taught the Palestinians that violence does not pay.

“Today, the Palestinians have begun to understand that their interest compels them to stop terror,” Sharon said during a graduating ceremony for air force pilots. He said the “long arm of the Israeli defence forces can hit terrorists anywhere, anytime”.