MIDDLE EAST: Nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces yesterday, including at least five militants and two passers-by who died during a botched assassination attempt. Two Israelis were shot dead by armed Palestinians in separate incidents. Peter Hirschberg reports from Jerusalem.
The sharp escalation in violence came on a day in which the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, dismissed as a cynical stunt a call by the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, for an end to attacks before the Israeli elections on January 28th; and Palestinians accused the Israeli leader of stepping up raids to serve his election needs.
An Apache helicopter unleashed three missiles at a car travelling in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, in which at least two members of the militant Hamas group were travelling.
But eyewitnesses said the men in the car escaped while the rockets exploded, killing two teenage boys near the vehicle.
After 22 people were killed in a twin Palestinian suicide attack in Tel Aviv a week ago, Israel said it would adopt a number of retaliatory measures, including stepping up what it calls "targeted hits" on militants - a policy that has drawn sharp international criticism.
Two more Palestinians were killed when Israeli troops made a foray into the Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Beit Hanoun early yesterday. One of the men, a 45-year-old Beit Hanoun resident, was killed when the army destroyed the home of a militant who it said had been involved in a suicide attack.
Troops and militants exchanged heavy gun and rocket fire in Khan Younis, where the army destroyed six metal workshops it said were being used to produce weapons.
Several hours after troops pulled out, militants in Gaza fired three home-made Kassem rockets into the southern Israeli town of Sderot, several kilometres away. There were no serious injuries in the attack, which was claimed by Hamas.
Towards afternoon, an armed Palestinian was shot dead near the West Bank city of Hebron when an Israeli guard returned fire after a fuel truck was ambushed, the army said.
As darkness fell, two Israelis were killed in separate infiltrations. One was shot dead when militants opened fire in the farming community of Gadish just north of the West Bank.
Troops who arrived at the scene killed two of the Palestinian infiltrators.
Around the same time, an Israeli was shot and killed in the south, close to the border with Egypt, when two men opened fire on an army patrol in the area. Troops shot dead two armed men.
The army said it believed the attackers were Palestinians who had crossed into Egypt from the southern Gaza town of Rafah, and then crossed the Egyptian border back into Israel to carry out the attack.
On Saturday, Israeli troops arrested two Palestinian youths who infiltrated the isolated Gaza settlement of Netzarim with knives.
The ages of the two were not entirely clear, with one report saying they were eight and 13, and other reports putting their ages at 12 and 14. Both were taken to an Israeli hospital for treatment.
Mr Sharon yesterday dismissed Mr Arafat's call on Saturday for an end to Palestinian attacks.
"As the Israeli election date is getting closer, we appeal to all our people to practise self-restraint," said a statement released by the Palestinian cabinet. Some Palestinian officials hold the view that a reduction in violence will serve the centre-left Labour Party.
At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Mr Sharon announced sarcastically: "Prior to the elections, long before the elections, it's possible to murder. Close to the elections, it's best to stop and after the elections, it's desirable to continue."
Palestinian officials riposted that the Prime Minister was escalating operations in the Occupied Territories, in an attempt to shift the attention from corruption scandals plaguing him and his Likud party only two weeks before Israelis go to the polls.