MIDDLE EAST: Israeli forces in Gaza have killed at least five armed Palestinians, and at least two more men in disputed circumstances in the past two days. The troops were searching for arms smuggling tunnels at the south of the Strip, and rocket-making factories in the north writes David Horovitz in Jerusalem
In the West Bank, meanwhile, gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Brigades, affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, publicly executed a father of two. The man, Hamad Rafiq Abdel Razek (42), was shot for alleged "collaboration" with Israel, specifically for having led Israeli troops to the hideouts of gunmen.
The Gaza violence followed the deaths of two Israeli civilians - a toddler and a middle-aged man - hit by cross-border rocket fire in southern Israel on Monday. Since then, troops have been searching northern Gaza's Beit Hanoun area for the factories where the Qassam rockets are manufactured.
Israeli military officials said they could not confirm Palestinian claims that a civilian, watching the troops from the window of his home, was killed there yesterday. A 15-year-old hit by gunfire there on Thursday died yesterday.
Israeli troops have spent the past two days in Rafah, at the southern foot of the Strip, searching for tunnels through which arms are smuggled beneath the adjacent Egyptian border. Military officials said one such tunnel was discovered and demolished, along with several buildings in the area. Palestinian witnesses said some of these buildings were inhabited.
Troops also killed a Palestinian man, said by Palestinian sources to be a scrap-dealer who was searching the rubble. The army said its troops had come under fire and returned fire.
Further north, another Palestinian man was shot dead as he approached troops near the Jewish settlement of Netzer Hazani. Palestinian medics said he was not armed.
On Thursday, five Palestinian gunmen were shot dead by troops during hours of gunfire around the isolated Gaza settlement of Netzarim.
Israel's Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon is resisting calls from some ministers to circumvent a Supreme Court ruling that requires the re-routing of parts of Israel's West Bank security barrier to reduce the suffering it causes to Palestinians.
Meanwhile, presumptive US Democratic presidential candidate Mr John Kerry has formally endorsed the pro-Israel positions adopted by President Bush in mid-April. In a paper sent to US Jewish leaders Mr Kerry calls for the "total isolation" of Mr Arafat; defends the security barrier as a "self-defence" measure in the face of terrorism; and backs long-term Israeli control of major West Bank settlement blocs.