Checkpoint gunfire holds up Mecca pilgrims

Gunfire erupted at an Israel-Gaza checkpoint where Palestinians were about to cross at the beginning of an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca today.

An armed Palestinian was killed.

Palestinian security officials said the exchange of fire took place at the Erez checkpoint. About 400 pilgrims remained stuck at the checkpoint at midmorning.

The military said the incident erupted after a Palestinian set off an explosive charge and threw grenades at an Israeli army officer, who shot and killed him.

Soldiers exchanged fire with armed Palestinians, and three Palestinian police officers were wounded. The military said they were being treated at an Israeli clinic.

The closure of Erez further restricted Palestinian movement in and out of Gaza.

The Rafah checkpoint, the main crossing point from southern Gaza to Egypt, was closed last month after Palestinians tunnelled under an Israeli army outpost there and blew it up, killing five soldiers.

Israel made the Erez crossing available as an alternative, transporting pilgrims to the Egyptian border.

Violence in Gaza has heated up in recent weeks, after a brief lull following the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in November.

Palestinian militants have attacked Jewish settlements with mortar fire and fired home-made rockets from northern Gaza, prompting deadly Israeli reprisals. Early this week, the army launched an operation in northern Gaza aimed at halting the rocket fire.

Militants managed to fire two rockets at an army base in southern Israel today, wounding 12 soldiers, one seriously, the army said. One rocket landed in a crowded dining hall, and the other hit an officer’s office.