22/11/2000 12:25 - (SA) Four Palestinians killed in Israeli tank attack

Gaza City - Four Palestinians were killed on Wednesday when an Israeli tank opened fire on two cars driving near a Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip, a senior Palestinian security official told AFP.

The tank opened fire apparently with heavy-calibre machine guns on two cars driving in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

The shooting occurred near the Jewish settlement of Morag between Rafah, close to the Egyptian border, and the town of Khan Yunis.

Witnesses said the Israeli army had sent in armoured vehicles to close off the area.

The army had no immediate comment on the incident.

A Palestinian security official on the scene said three of those killed had been in a Hyundai and the fourth was killed in a white Mercedes.

It was not immediately clear if there were other injuries.

The Palestinian official said that the man killed in the Mercedes was still alive after the shooting, but died in the car after the Israeli army blocked ambulances from entering the area.

The shooting incident came less than two hours after a loud explosion was heard near the Jewish settlement of Gush Katif, which is also in the southern Gaza Strip.

There were no apparent injuries caused by that blast.

The Israeli army reported several shooting incidents overnight in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, mostly Palestinian gunfire directed at Jewish settlements.

According to the army one Israeli soldier was lightly wounded by shrapnel apparently caused by a grenade at the Kfar Darom settlement in the central Gaza Strip. - Sapa-AFP

http://news.24.com/News24/World/Middle_East/0,1113,2-10-35_943931,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 22, 2000