Palestinians Add 6 to Death Toll

A Palestinian militant whose clan has been targeted by Israeli security forces was killed Sunday when a public telephone exploded in his hand -- one of six Palestinians to die in a day of violence, Palestinians said.

Mohammed Shtewie Abayat was on the phone outside Beit Jala Hospital near the West Bank city of Bethlehem when the apparatus blew up, killing him, according to doctors. Relatives said he belonged to a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

Palestinians blamed Israel, as they did when two other members of the clan were killed over the last two years. The Israeli military declined to comment.

In the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinians said a 4-year-old boy was one of two Palestinians fatally shot during what the Israeli army described as a firefight when troops entered the Rafah refugee camp to search for smuggling tunnels.

In other violence, Israeli soldiers killed two armed men who crossed into southern Israel from Egypt, and a 56-year-old woman was killed when soldiers opened fire on her vehicle, which was trying to evade a roadblock near the West Bank city of Jenin.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel C. Kurtzer sent a strongly worded message to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office over the weekend, saying Israel had not met promises to ease tough restrictions imposed on the Palestinians.