Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip today, Palestinian witnesses and hospital sources said.
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Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres
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They said Mr Ali Abu Blaima, described by his family as mentally disturbed, was shot by a road leading to the Kfar Darom settlement in central Gaza. He was 30 years of age.
He was the fourth Palestinian reported to have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres agreed at talks at Gaza airport yesterday to try to forge a lasting ceasefire.
Three Palestinians were killed and 27 were hurt in fighting overnight at the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile Senior activists from the Muslim movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad called through loudspeakers for people to ignore the agreement by Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres to implement a truce plan.
Six radical Palestinian groups and Lebanon's Hizbollah today condemned the truce-consolidation deal during a conference held in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The conference was attending by about 70 figures of the Arab world and officials from the radical movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as from the Shiite fundamentalist group Hizbollah.
Meeting at Gaza airport under intense US pressure to end the fighting, Mr Peres and Mr Arafat agreed yesterday to renew efforts to implement a truce-to-talks blueprint that includes the lifting of Israeli military blockades of Palestinian areas.
The two leaders also said security talks would resume tomorrow, the first anniversary of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in which at least 591 Palestinians and 169 Israelis have been killed.
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