Palestinian gunmen killed three Jewish settlers and injured four others when they raided a settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, seizing a house and spraying the area with bullets this evening. One of the injured is in a critical condition, a military official said.
Earlier reports put the death toll at two, but one of the injured subsequently died of wounds sustained when an unknown number of gunmen burst into the Alei Sinai settlement on the administrative border with Israel and took over a house.
Fighting also erupted in the neighbouring settlement of Dugit, about half a mile south, with three people injured, settlers said. Israeli reinforcements and special police rushed to the scene, as a helicopter flew overhead. The casualties were evacuated to hospitals inside Israel.
Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat condemned the attack by unidentified gunmen calling it an "aggression against the ceasefire" he signed with Israel, the WAFA news agency said.
Mr Arafat has ordered his security forces to find out which militant group was behind the attack which will seriously undermine the ceasefire signed last week.
The attack comes after a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said the cabinet could meet tomorrow to assess the security situation and decide if the truce was holding.
Israel had given Mr Arafat until 11a.m. to stamp out the violence that continued over the weekend.
AFP