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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, September 21, 2002

Israeli-Palestinian Clashes Mounts in Southern Gaza

Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants mounted their clashes on Friday night in the town and refugee camp of Rafah on the borders between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, medical and security sources said.


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Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants mounted their clashes on Friday night in the town and refugee camp of Rafah on the borders between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, medical and security sources said.

Medical sources at Abu Yousif Al Najjar in the town said a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed while a young man died at arrival to the hospital with his head smashed by an Israeli army tank shells.

The sources added that 23 people were also shot injured by Israeli troops during their fierce armed clashes with Palestinian militants.

The clashes between the two sides mounted in the town and the refugee camp of Rafah after three Israeli soldiers injured when their armored personnel carrier drove over a roadside bomb on the borders between the town and Egypt.

Palestinian witnesses said that it was the toughest gun battle between the militants and the soldiers for recent several months, adding the shooting from both sides had not stopped all the day.

The Israeli army was supported by two Apache attackers, which fired from heavy machineguns at different locations believing that Palestinian militants are hiding or shooting at the soldiers from there.

The witnesses said that one of the armored vehicles that turned over when it drove over the roadside bomb is still on the borders as the soldiers were not able to pull the vehicle out because of the intensive shooting.

Palestinian security sources said that dozens of tanks and armored vehicles are stationed at the eastern, western and northernentrances into Rafah area that includes the town, a refugee camp, two neighborhoods and two villages.

The Israeli army is planning to carry out a widespread attack against Rafah area and start building a cement fence on the bordersbetween Rafah and Egypt, the sources worried.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus travellingin the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on Thursday, killing at least five people and injuring 60 others.

Afterwards, Israeli tanks surrounded Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet decided to isolate Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters rather than expel him.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been escalating, which has claimed more than 2050 lives, including over 1840 Palestinians and 610 Israelis, since September 2000 when the Palestinian militant groups started waging uprising against Israeli occupation.


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