Israelis Slay 3 Gunmen; Tear Gas Kills Woman

Israeli troops shot dead three gunmen trying to infiltrate from Lebanon today and a 70-year-old Palestinian woman died after inhaling tear gas in a violent clash with troops in the occupied Gaza Strip.

The gunmen came within 100 yards of an Israeli border security fence before dawn. The army said troops chased the three and killed them within a minute. No Israelis were injured.

Israel’s northern commander, Gen. Yossi Peled, said he believes guerrilla organizations in Lebanon could be planning attacks to show solidarity with a 4-month-old Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“What is happening today in the riots in the territories could press organizations to demonstrate they have a role,” he told reporters.

Second Gas Death

Shifa Hospital in Gaza said the woman was overcome by tear gas fired by troops at the Jabaliya refugee camp.

She was the second Palestinian in two days to die after inhaling tear gas. The army said a 21-year-old man was overcome by tear gas on Tuesday at the Shati camp in the Gaza Strip.

In Vienna, the director of health of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency charged Israel had used highly toxic gases against protesters in Gaza, causing at least two deaths and dozens of miscarriages.

A military official strongly denied the charge.

The latest deaths raised the toll to at least 141 Palestinians and two Israelis since the uprising began in December.

A 15-year-old boy from Jabaliya was shot in the side, and several people were wounded by beatings and rubber bullets in protests against the expulsions of eight anti-Israeli activists to Lebanon on Monday, Shifa Hospital said.

The army closed Jabaliya and the Gaza refugee camp of Nusseirat.

Palestinian sources said telephone links were cut to Jabaliya, where more than 1,000 schoolchildren demonstrated at military headquarters.

In the Lebanon clash, the army said it recovered M-16 rifles, shoulder-launched rockets and several hand grenades from the gunmen’s bodies. The army said the guerrillas intended to take hostages in Israel.

The incident occurred north of the Dan Hills, near where three gunmen were killed last week in an attempt to infiltrate Israel.

Press Policy Tightened

In Jerusalem, police arrested eight people in a raid on the offices of the Arab Study Society, an East Jerusalem research center.

The Israel Government Press Office initiated a policy of preventing some Palestinian publications from distributing announcements in the mailboxes of local and foreign journalists there.

The office removed from the boxes overnight a daily English summary of Arabic news from East Jerusalem newspapers issued by the Al Fajr daily.

“It will be limited to anyone who would be seen to be not friendly to the government of Israel,” press office official Steve Leibowitz told Reuters. “That could come from Jewish Israeli sources and it could come from Palestinians. It is not an anti-Arab measure.”