Two Palestinians hurt by IDF fire at southern Gaza checkpoint

Israel Defense Forces troops fired at Palestinians trying to bypass a checkpoint Monday, critically wounding one man and injuring a 14-year-old boy in the same spot where a similar incident a day earlier left one Palestinian dead, witnesses and hospital officials said.

The military said troops fired warning shots and then shot toward the group, after the pedestrians ignored orders to halt.

The Palestinians had been trying to cross a road closed by the military a daily earlier, as part of new restrictions imposed in response to the Haifa suicide bombing that killed 19 people. The road links the southern Gaza towns of Rafah and Khan Yunis, and was blocked by a checkpoint.

A 42-year-old man was in critical condition with a head wound, and 14-year-oldboy was shot in the leg, hospital officials said. On Sunday, a 26-year-old man was killed and three others were wounded while trying to bypass the same checkpoint.

Also Monday, IDF tanks and bulldozers entered the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza and demolished four Palestinian homes, Palestinian security officials and local residents said.

IDF officials said they had no report of house demolitions in the area but that anti-tank missiles, mortar shells and live ammunition was fired by Palestinians toward Israeli forces in the area. One soldier was lightly injured, the IDF spokesman said.

Also Monday, Hamas said it fired 16 mortar shells at Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip overnight in retaliation for the Israeli air strike on a militant training camp in Syrian territory.

The IDF has not confirmed the claim, and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Hamas also said it would carry out more attacks in Israel. "Any aggression against an Arab or Islamic country is an aggression against the Palestinian people and, God willing, our response to this aggression will be decisive," read a statement on a Hamas web site.

"We call on our fighters... to respond quickly, and in the heart of the Zionist entity, to this serious escalation," it said.

On Sunday, Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) was named Palestinian prime minister and head of a seven-member emergency Cabinet in a special decree by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Arafat's decision means that Qureia is now effectively the prime minister. It also cut short lengthy consultations about the formation of the Palestinian Cabinet.

The decree enables Qureia to take immediate action following Saturday's suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad that killed 19 Israelis in a crowded beachfront restaurant.

Arafat also declared a state of emergency in Palestinian areas of the territories - a move that empowered the Palestinian leader to appoint the emergency cabinet.

"The declaration of emergency is meant to bolster the principle of one Palestinian Authority and maintain the rule of law, because our situation is very, very critical," said a senior Palestinian official who asked not to be identified.

In the afternoon, Arafat met with Qureia to discuss the final composition of the new cabinet. The two announced that the Palestinian parliament will convene Wednesday to gives final approval.

Qureia announced at a press conference after the meeting that the PA has decided on a series of steps intended to improve the security situation, which he called unbearable.

In recent days, Arafat has suffered from fever and the flu. In an accouncement he made before television cameras, the PA chairman appeared paler than ever, weak and thinner than he was a few days ago.