Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and razed dozens of homes in a strategic Gaza Strip refugee camp yesterday as the Palestinians put off naming a new security chief to help spearhead Middle East peace moves.
Witnesses in Rafah, a camp on Gaza's border with Egypt where militants regularly smuggle in weapons, said Israeli forces killed a 19-year-old Palestinian and demolished 42 homes, although it was not immediately clear how many of these were individual buildings.
A military spokesman said the dead man was armed and that five buildings used by militants to fire on troops were demolished as were another three used to conceal gunrunner tunnels.
"It could be that Palestinian fire also caused structural damage," the spokesman said, referring to heavy resistance Israeli forces encountered when they stormed Rafah on Thursday night in the deepest raid there for six months.
Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Mr Ahmed Qurie met in the West Bank city of Ramallah but failed to settle on an interior minister in charge of security forces for their emergency cabinet formed last week, Palestinian officials said.
The original nominee, Mr Nasser Youssef, had angered Mr Arafat by declining to appear at the swearing-in ceremony -- apparently in a demand the cabinet, whose authority expires in a month, be ratified.
A parliamentary vote set for Thursday was cancelled.
"Abu Ala (Qurie) and the cabinet ministers who were sworn in will continue in performing their responsibilities until the month-long period stipulated according to law is over," Mr Arafat's aide Mr Nabil Abu Rdainah said.
Empowered to reform security forces and rein in militants, the Palestinian interior minister would be key to reviving a US-backed peace "road map" that is in tatters following a resurgence in more than three years of Middle East violence.