An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at a van in the West Bank, killing a leading member of the Islamic militant Hamas group and his brother, Palestinian officials and Israel army radio said. The Israeli military refused to comment.
Also on Friday, a 15-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops dispersing stone throwers in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Younis where a day earlier five boys had been killed by what Palestinian police said was a bomb planted by Israeli forces.
There were growing demands in Israel that the military make swift disclosure of its investigation into the deaths. Also in Gaza, a Palestinian taxi with seven passengers came under Israel fire, and four people were wounded. The driver was in coma and three passengers were wounded, two of them critically with head injuries, doctors said.
Near the West Bank town of Nablus, two Palestinians were killed when a bomb they were trying to plant near a road used by Israeli motorists blew up prematurely, Palestinian security officials said.
Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the killing of the Hamas activists just a day after the deaths of the Gaza schoolchildren, suggested a deliberate attempt by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to sabotage a new American push to calm the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I think he wants to make the American effort fail and it is an attempt to push the Palestinians to react, he said.
Bureau Report