The Palestinian Authority called today for an investigation into Israel's killing of three teenagers whom Palestinian doctors said were tortured to death.
The Israeli army has denied the allegation. The army said it killed three knife-wielding terrorists with tank fire on Sunday when they approached a military vehicle at twilight in the northern Gaza Strip.
The army's initial account said the three opened fire on a military vehicle. It later said they were shot because they carried a bag thought to hold explosives. But the army said no explosives were found.
After turning over the bodies of the men today, the army said one of the dead youths had been unintentionally run over by a tank.
However, a Palestinian security chief claimed the three were ambushed and killed in cold blood. At least two were tortured alive, he said.
A Reuterscorrespondent who saw the corpses said one of the heads was completely crushed and a leg was severed from near the knee. The corpses had lacerations and burn marks.
Muawiyah Hassanein, director of the casualty department at Shifa Hospital, described the lacerations as knife and shrapnel wounds. "We have examined the bodies, we did an autopsy on them and we can say they were tortured to death," he told Reuters.