Troops kill three men along Gaza border

The Israel Defense Forces yesterday killed three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, after they were reportedly seen crawling along the border wall planning an attack.

The incident in Gaza took place when soldiers from the Golani Brigade guarding the border from inside Israel saw people crawling along the barrier near the main civilian crossing point at 1 A.M.

The soldiers said they fired at the three Palestinians. An aircraft was also used to fire at them, along with remote-controlled machine guns.

The three men - believed to have been members of Fatah - were hit and killed, an army spokeswoman said.

IDF troops later found a rope ladder which the three men may have been planning to use in order to climb up the wall. No weapons were found at the scene.

Last Tuesday, three Palestinian militants were wounded in a blast in the central Gaza Strip, according to medical sources and witnesses.

The witnesses said an explosive device went off prematurely as the militants were carrying it in the al-Bureij refugee camp.

The militants were apparently planning to plant the explosives on a route the Israeli army uses when entering the border areas east of the camp. One of the fighters was seriously injured, medical sources added.

'We wish for calm'

Over the weekend, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing said the Islamist group would not shirk away from a new battle with Israel.

"We do not wish for war. We wish for calm and peace for our people," Iz al-Din al-Qassam spokesman Abu Ubaida said.