Palestinian President Yasser Arafat accused Israel of attempting to "sabotage" truce talks by mounting land, sea and air attacks on Palestinian positions Saturday.
"This is intended to sabotage the meeting" with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Arafat said in Gaza City after meeting with the Russian Middle East envoy Andrei Vdovin, AFP said.
"It is an escalation to continue to implement their plan for 'oranim'," he said, using the Hebrew word for hell.
Israel Saturday mounted a series of assaults along the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank, leaving two Palestinians killed and several wounded, Palestinian security sources said.
The attacks came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cancelled planned talks between Arafat and Peres set for Sunday, saying it would be "inappropriate" after the terrorist attacks that killed thousands in the United States.
A meeting of the Palestinian security council late Friday accused Israel of attempting to "exploit" the US terrorist tragedy by increasing "its aggression against the Palestinians," security sources said.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said that Israeli troops attacked Palestinian security installations in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, “in response for Palestinian mortar and grenade attacks on [Israeli army] troops and settlements in the area Friday.”
Helicopters attacked a Palestinian intelligence outpost north of the settlement of Netzarim, in conjunction with ground troops who shot missiles at a Palestinian navy post in the same area, AFP and the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported.
Israeli ground troops also opened fire on a Palestinian police outpost in Rafah.
Palestinian witnesses said that at least seven missiles hit targets in Gaza City, two struck sites in Rafah near Gaza's border with Egypt and two were fired at Nusairat refugee camp in central Gaza.
An Israeli army spokesman was quoted in Haaretz as saying that four armed Palestinians were wounded by Israeli troops in three separate shooting incidents in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
He told Israel Radio that two of the Palestinians were shot by an Israeli army unit in southern Gaza, near the Gush Katif bloc of settlements.
“The two armed Palestinian men were on their way to carry out a shooting attack at an [Israeli army] outpost in the area,” he told the radio.
The third Palestinian, he added, was wounded by Israeli soldiers in the northern part of the Gaza Strip “while trying to place an explosive device.”
The fourth man was wounded near the Netzarim border crossing between Israel and Gaza “as he prepared to open fire on [Israeli army] troops in the area,” the spokesman claimed - Albawaba.com
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