Egyptian police in the Sinai Peninsula shot and killed a Sudanese woman Sunday and seriously wounded four others as they tried to enter Israel, a local police officer said.

The Egyptian police has arrested many refugees trying to enter Israel from Egypt, and have also wounded several, but Haja Abbas Haroun's death was the first of its kind.

Haroun, 28, was killed instantly by police gunfire, while four others, including a woman and young girl, were critically wounded and taken to a local hospital, said Capt. Mohammed Badr of the northern Sinai police force.

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The border guards arrested 22 refugees with Haroun who were also seeking political asylum in Israel, Badr added. Eighteen from the group, including Haroun and three of the wounded, were from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region. The rest were from Eritrea and the Ivory Coast, the home country of the fourth person injured.

The incident took place in the central Sinai town of Al-Aouja, 62 miles south of Rafah.

Badr said the individuals had paid thousands of dollars to smugglers to get into Israel, but the traffickers left the group near the border and fled just minutes before the police arrived.

IDF abandons 46 Sudanese refugees at Be'er Sheva bus station
An Israel Defense Forces detachment on Saturday abandoned 46 Sudanese refugees in the Bedouin market in Be'er Sheva in spite of the opening of a temporary absorption facility for African refugees next to the Ketziot prison in the Negev.

On Sunday, the IDF admitted that abandoning the refugees had been a mistake, and the group was bussed from Be'er Sheva to the housing facility next to the Ketziot prison.

The refugees were apprehended last Friday after they had infiltrated Israel from Egypt.

Avi Dichter, the minister of public security, and his director general last week announced their intention to create a "campsite" near Ketziot Prison to hold the refugees until their eventual deportation.

One of the main purposes of the new site was to allow families to remain together. It will take several days before water, electricity and plumbing can be arranged for the site.

In the meantime, the refugees are being housed in temporary facilities next to the prison.

Last week, the Prime Minister's Office asked the Jewish Agency to weigh the possibility of housing the refugees in Jewish Agency-run immigrant absorption centers in lieu of the facilities at Ketziot.

The Jewish Agency replied by asking the PMO how much the housing would cost the Agency, but has since received no reply.

During a tour of the facilities at Ketziot last week, Dichter emphasized that they are meant to temporarily house asylum seekers who have infiltrated Israel, and not to serve as permanent housing for refugees who have already been in Israel for some time.

Dichter expressed hope that the Egyptian government will adhere to a recent agreement made with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert under which they will be responsible for absorbing or repatriating Sudanese and other Africans caught infiltrating Israel from Egypt.

Dichter stated that the Immigration Police had not been deployed to round up Sudanese refugees in Israel, and did not state whether they would be deployed in such a manner at a later date.

Dichter laid reponsibility for the apprehension of Sudanese refugees upon the IDF, stating that a fence along the border would not help, since the refugees would still "arrive at the border and sit and wait for the IDF to come and pick them up."

A group of students that has been helping the refugees has stated that their efforts to find the refugees employment have failed due to a decision by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor to stop issuing work permits to employers that would allow them to employ the refugees.