An Israeli and a Palestinian laborer were killed, and three Israelis and three Palestinians were wounded when Palestinian gunmen opened fire early Friday morning in the vicinity of the Erez crossing, in the Gaza Strip. Israeli troops in the area killed the two gunmen.
The Palestinians entered the crossing, opened fire, and hurled a hand grenade, Army Radio reported.
According to Israeli sources, one of the wounded Israelis was in moderate to serious condition.
Palestinians in a passing vehicle opened fire at Israelis at the nearby industrial zone, reported Jerusalem Post. There were no injuries in this attack.
Elsewhere, Israeli troops stormed into the West Bank village of Kalil, near Nablus, overnight Thursday, and arrested Palestinians before withdrawing, the army said in a statement released Friday. The statement also said, "activities in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Dura and Dahariyah, south of Hebron, continue."
On Thursday a Palestinian was killed near the Elei Sinai settlement, in Gaza strip.
Jenin
Meanwhile, the Israeli army acknowledged on Friday it had killed hundreds of Palestinians earlier in the week in the Jenin refugee camp. "There were apparently hundreds of dead," the army's chief spokesman, Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey, told Army Radio. Kitrey's estimate of hundreds of dead sharply revised upwards the army's previous figure of some 100 Palestinian fighters killed in Jenin.
Palestinians have called on the United Nations to investigate the killings of Palestinians in the camp and accused Israel of carrying out massacres.
Jenin, like other West Bank areas, has been declared a closed military area, and journalists have been barred from obtaining their own independent accounts.
The Israeli army buried the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed Jenin refugee camp in a huge mass grave and used bulldozers to cover them up, Palestinian sources said Thursday. The Israeli army, however, denied these allegations.
The Palestinian Authority has expressed concerns that Israel is trying to hide the large number of dead, since it has blocked Palestinian medical teams from evacuating the dead and wounded from the camp during the past week.
Residents of the camp said Thursday that the Israeli army had cleared the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed during the clashes in a ditch and used bulldozers to cover it up. The residents said the bodies had been pushed into their final resting place by the bulldozers. The Palestinians have informed international organizations, such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), about their claims.
Earlier this week, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat has said 500 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
