4 Die, 50 Hurt as Israelis Fire on Palestinians

Four Palestinians were killed and more than 50 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire in a refugee camp market Wednesday after being attacked by firebombs, U.N. officials and Arab reporters said.

The violence at Rafah in the Gaza Strip came as Palestinians were shopping for the feast marking the end of Ramadan, the holiest time on the Muslim calendar. It was the bloodiest single confrontation between Palestinians and troops in the occupied lands in three years.

The Israeli troops were chasing Palestinian men who had thrown firebombs at them, said Rolf van Uye, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

“Troops started opening fire, and at the time the market was extremely busy because of the end of Ramadan,” Van Uye said.

He said the U.N. clinic in the camp treated between 30 and 50 Palestinians for gunshot wounds. Some of the wounded were in serious condition, he said.

The army confirmed that four people were killed but said only 10 were wounded. A army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a grenade was thrown at an army observation post in Rafah town, bordering the camp.

Troops closed the area and spotted a car as it sped from the scene, running over three bystanders, the official said. Firebombs were thrown at the troops, and one device set a border police jeep ablaze, the army official said.

Troops opened fire, killing two Palestinians who had thrown firebombs, the army official said. He said he did not know how the other two Palestinians were killed.

PLO spokesman Bassam abu Sharif, speaking by telephone from Tunisia, called the shootings a “massacre” and urged the Bush Administration to pressure the Israeli government to prevent further shootings.

The clash was the worst in the occupied territories since April 13, 1989, when five Palestinians were killed by border police in the West Bank village of Nahalin.