Earlier on Saturday, Israeli army opened fire at four
Palestinian militants from the Islamic Hamas movement near the
Gaza-Israel border east of Gaza City, killing three at the scene
and badly wounded the fourth who were shifted to hospital later,
according to medics at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources report that Israeli army
shot dead another Palestinian allegedly also from Hamas near the
border between southern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Shortly after the two incidents, Hamas' armed wing Izz
el-Deenal-Qassam Brigades claimed the four militants in a leaflet,
saying they were shot when they were on a mission near the
border.
Abu Obaida, a spokesman for al-Qassam Brigades, said in a
written statement faxed to reporters that the three killed
militants at border east of Gaza City were members of his group,
adding they were "on a jihad mission when the army of occupation
targeted them."
However, he did not explain what kind of mission the militants
were carrying out near the border with Israel in eastern Gaza.
Abu Obaida stressed that the "crime of killing the three
fighters proves that the occupation army was not interested in the
state of calmness," despite its unspecified mission near the border
with Israel.
However, an Israeli military spokeswoman said that Israeli army
opened fire at the Palestinians as they were trying to plant the
explosive device at the border fence between eastern Gaza and
Israel.
But she denied the separate killing incident in southern Gaza
border area, where a fourth Palestinian man was allegedly killed by
Israeli army. "I was sure that Israeli army did not attack the
Palestinian in southern Gaza," the spokeswoman said.
Last week, Hamas said that the half-year-old ceasefire had
expired, owing to "the continuing Israeli crimes" in West Bank.
But Egyptian mediators announced later they have persuaded
Israel and the militant groups for self-restraint.
Hamas, which leads the current Palestinian unity government, has
not officially confirmed or denied the saying of the Egyptian
security delegation.
However, a spokesman for Hamas named Fawzi Barhoom called on
Palestinian militant groups to "study the mechanisms to respond to
the Israeli army crimes," vowing that his movement will not take
negative stance before the Israeli violations.
Nafez Azzam, a senior Islamic Jihad (Holy War) leader in Gaza,
also told reporters on Saturday that the killing of the four
Palestinians "is an indication that Israel doesn't understand the
language of dialogue."
"I'm wondering how Arabs and Palestinians are eager to keep
presenting initiatives to Israel, while Israel is not paying
attention to such initiatives and keeps its aggression on the
Palestinians," said Azzam.
(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2007)
