At least seven Palestinians were reported killed in another upsurge in intifada violence yesterday, a day after five schoolboys from a single extended family were killed in an explosion in Gaza.
Palestinian anger over the five deaths is intensifying amid indications that the boys, who were walking to their school in the Khan Younis refugee camp, died after unwittingly triggering a booby-trapped device planted by the Israeli army. The US has urged Israel to carefully investigate the incident. A senior army officer has told Israel Radio that the deaths constituted a "grave mistake".
Among those to die yesterday, Palestinian officials said, was a 15-year-old Gaza boy shot dead by Israeli troops during clashes that followed the funerals of the five boys from the al-Astal family, who were all aged between 6 and 14. The Israeli army denied opening fire on the protesters.
Near Rafah, to the south of the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops after his car failed to slow at a roadblock.
A Palestinian woman was critically injured in the same incident.
Outside Nablus in the West Bank last night, two Hamas activists were killed in a missile strike by an Israeli helicopter. Hamas later admitted that a third man killed in the attack was Mr Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, who features on Israel's "wanted list" of Islamic militants. Earlier in the day, in the same area, two members of the Fatah faction of the PLO were blown up by their own bomb, Palestinian officials said.
Israel's Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said he had ordered an investigation into Thursday's Khan Younis deaths. He issued a statement expressing his sorrow over the "loss of innocent lives", but added that the explosion had occurred in an area from which Palestinian gunmen had repeatedly fired on Jewish settlements and army positions. Palestinian leaders called for an international inquiry, and said the tragedy underlined the need for the deployment of international monitors in the region. The deaths were the focus of sermons in many Palestinian mosques yesterday, the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
At the Gaza City service attended by the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, which was broadcast on Palestinian television, the imam condemned the "foul crime" perpetrated against children who were merely "walking to school with their satchels on their backs".
Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, the PA's Information Minister, castigated Israel for what he called "the assassination of our children".
Mr Idress Al-Astal, father of two of the dead boys, told reporters through tears that "God will avenge me". Thousands of Palestinians attended the funerals, with children carrying pictures of their dead friends.