1 Slain; Palestinians Hail Call for Monitors

Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian today, just hours after world leaders at a Group of 8 summit pressed the warring sides to accept outside observers in the troubled region.

Palestinian security sources said an Israeli tank shell killed a 48-year-old Palestinian when it hit his home in a village in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army disputed the report, saying the soldiers shot from their position on a tank with machine guns at “two armed terrorists” who had opened fire on their outpost near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Authority welcomed a call by the leaders of the world’s top industrial nations for international observers to be sent to the region to monitor attempts at a cease-fire.

But the statement from Genoa, Italy, fell short of expectations voiced by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat earlier in the day for a decision that would make it “obligatory for the Israeli side to stop this Israeli aggression.”

Arafat’s call came after one of the worst stretches of violence since both sides agreed to a U.S.-backed truce more than a month ago.

About 5,000 Palestinians participated in a funeral procession Saturday for the 13th person to die since Monday: Rajai Abu Rajab, an activist in the military wing of Arafat’s Fatah movement who died Friday night when an explosion flattened Fatah’s office in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Arafat has not directly commented on the blast, which Fatah says was an Israeli attack with missiles and Israelis say was a “work accident”--a Palestinian bomb that exploded while being assembled.