Israeli troops on Thursday killed six Palestinians, including two girsls, in separate icidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers near the West Bank city of Tulkarem early on Thursday. Israeli sources claimed the three men were carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles.
According to the Israeli reports, the three were "senior" Tanzim members. They were identified as Bilal Abu-Amshah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades leader in Tulkarem, Haitam Barame and Ghanem Ghanem.
The incident took place in an open field between the West Bank city and the nearby Nur a-Shams refugee camp.
In the Gaza Strip, a 16-year-old Palestinian died Thursday of wounds he sustained earlier in the day when Israeli forces opened fire at him near Balsam Hospital, north of the Gaza Strip, medical sources said.
They confirmed that Mohammed al-Malfooh 16, was shot with a live gunshot in the chest. He was taken to 'Odwan Hospital in a critical condition and died later.
Later in the day, two Palestinian girls, aged 4 and 11, were killed in the same area, Palestinian sources said. The 4-year-old, Asma Abu Klik, died of tear-gas inhalation and the 11-year-old, Muna Abu Tibq, was killed by gunfire, both west of Beit Hanun.
The latest deaths brought to 17 the number of Palestinians killed during Israel's three-day raid to the north of the Strip.
Also in the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops wounded Thursday three Palestinians and demolished 20 houses in the southern city of Rafah, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
On Wednesday, U.S. President George W. Bush rejected worldwide condemnation of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and noted world leaders owed the Israeli leader a "thank you" for his plans for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Bush lashed out at the Palestinian leadership for having "failed the people, year after year after year."
"Ariel Sharon came to America, and he stood up with me and he said, 'We are pulling out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank,'" Bush told a press conference in Washington.
In "my judgment, the whole world should have said, 'Thank you, Ariel. Now we have a chance to begin the construction of a peaceful Palestinian state,'" Bush conveyed. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
