ISRAEL: Israeli gunfire killed two Palestinian boys in clashes in the West Bank yesterday when violence boiled over a day after Israel ended a siege of Mr Yasser Arafat under US pressure.
Witnesses and medical officials said Israeli tanks opened fire at youths lobbing stones and petrol bombs at them in the city of Nablus, killing Mahmoud Zagloul (10). Hospital sources said he was clinically dead after being hit in the head.
A second child, aged 11, was critically injured by bullet wounds to the chest in the same area, they said.
Earlier, Palestinian medical sources said a teenage Palestinian boy was shot dead by heavy machine-gun fire which hit him as Israeli tanks moved into a refugee camp in Nablus to re-impose a curfew.
An army spokesman had no immediate comment on the deaths.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces surrounded a building in the centre of the city of more than 115,000 Palestinians in an apparent attempt to arrest a suspected militant.
Israel sent forces into West Bank cities after suicide bombings in June and has enforced military curfews since then.
Tanks and troops rumbled into Mr Arafat's compound in Ramallah two weeks ago after two Palestinian bombings killed seven people.
Under US pressure to avoid upsetting plans for possible war on Iraq, Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon withdrew the forces from the Palestinian president's headquarters on Sunday, a move which drew domestic criticism over the handling of the siege. The pull-back from Mr Arafat's Muqata headquarters was an embarrassing climb-down for Mr Sharon following a message from US President Bush demanding a speedy end to the blockade. - (Reuters, AFP)