Gaza City, May 29: Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian during an incursion in the southern Gaza Strip today and a member of the radical Islamic Jihad group in the West Bank, Palestinian sources said. The violence came on the same day as Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas is set to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, to discuss implementation of an internationally drafted middle east peace "roadmap." Mohammed el-Kadra, 24, died when Israeli soldiers backed by tanks searched houses in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis, the sources said. Relatives said Kadra had been wounded and was being carried to his house when Israeli soldiers intervened and shot him dead in a nearby street.

The Israeli Army said 29 people were arrested in the Khan Yunis sweep. Earlier, in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a gunman belonging to Islamic Jihad was shot dead by Israeli troops, the group's local leader and Palestinian medical sources told a news agency.
Saed Fahmawi, 23, was hit during heavy clashes that broke out as more than 20 tanks and jeeps pushed into the town and its neighbouring refugee camp, the Jihad leader said.

Clashes were still ongoing in the area, the sources said.

Bureau Report