Israelis kill ‘unarmed’ Palestinian

GAZA – Israeli soldiers shot dead an unarmed Palestinian in the Gaza Strip overnight, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said yesterday.

An Israeli source said troops fired at a Palestinian spotted crawling toward an army outpost on a road leading to a Jewish settlement bloc in central Gaza late on Sunday. Soldiers later found that the man had no weapon, the source said.Soldiers also shot and wounded two Palestinians near Gaza City yesterday as the men tried to bypass a closed beach road outside the Netzarim settlement, Palestinian medics said.The shootings occurred shortly after Israel killed a senior Hamas commander in an air strike on Sunday, accusing him of having played a key role in making crude Qassam rockets.Hamas, a group sworn to Israel’s destruction and responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in the Jewish state during a four-year-old Palestinian uprising, vowed revenge.Early yesterday, militants fired a rocket at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, hitting a residential area but causing no casualties.Tensions have escalated in Gaza since Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon announced a plan to withdraw troops and settlers by the end of next year from the narrow coastal strip captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.Militants hope to make the army withdraw under fire.But the military is determined to crush armed groups before leaving.- Nampa-ReutersSoldiers later found that the man had no weapon, the source said.Soldiers also shot and wounded two Palestinians near Gaza City yesterday as the men tried to bypass a closed beach road outside the Netzarim settlement, Palestinian medics said.The shootings occurred shortly after Israel killed a senior Hamas commander in an air strike on Sunday, accusing him of having played a key role in making crude Qassam rockets.Hamas, a group sworn to Israel’s destruction and responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in the Jewish state during a four-year-old Palestinian uprising, vowed revenge.Early yesterday, militants fired a rocket at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, hitting a residential area but causing no casualties.Tensions have escalated in Gaza since Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon announced a plan to withdraw troops and settlers by the end of next year from the narrow coastal strip captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.Militants hope to make the army withdraw under fire.But the military is determined to crush armed groups before leaving.- Nampa-Reuters