Israeli troops kill 3 Palestinian teens
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-10 10:47

Three Palestinian teens were shot dead by Israeli troops' gunfire on Saturday in Rafah near the borders between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, Palestinian witnesses and medics reported.

Earlier, witnesses said Israeli soldiers stationed on the borderline suddenly opened intensive gunfire at a group of Palestinian teens playing football close to the borderline, killing two boys on the spot and seriously wounding a third.   The third, Hassan Abu Zeid, died in the hospital later from serious wounds, Palestinian medics said. 

The two Palestinian teenage boys killed on the spot were Ashraf Musa, 14, and Kamal Ghannam, 16, the medics said.

Witnesses added that the group of teens were playing football near the borderline when they suddenly saw Israeli troops opened fire and three boys fell onto the ground bleeding.  

A Palestinian ambulance rushed to the scene and took the three to Abu Yousef al Najjar Hospital in Rafah, according to witnesses.

It is the first incident that Israeli troops sprayed gunfire at Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since 13 Palestinian factions declared a conditional ceasefire in an inter-Palestinian dialogue held in Cairo in mid March.

Palestinian security source expected an escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians after the deadly incident which occurred just one day before a planned storm by Jewish rightists into the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.

The compound where the al-Aqsa Mosque stands, called by Muslimsal-Haram al-Sharif and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, is Judaism's holiest site and one of Islam's most sacred shrines.

Media reports said thousands of right-wing Jewish activists plan to visit the flashpoint site on Sunday in an attempt to disrupt the expected Israeli withdrawal from Gaza this summer.   

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza and the West Bank on Saturday to show support for the al-Aqsa Mosque.

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