Israel fired missiles at the car of a Palestinian intelligence officer in the West Bank on Saturday, killing a passenger and a bystander.
Hospital officials said Mo'tassem Al Sabbah, a Fateh activist in the car, and policeman Allam Jaloudi, who was near the car at the time of the missile strike, were killed. Seventeen others were wounded in the early morning attack.
Tawfiq Al Tirawi, head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank, said Israel had attempted to assassinate intelligence officer Abdel-Karim Oweis. Tirawi said Oweis was brain dead, but hospital officials said he was lightly wounded.
A Reuters correspondent at the scene said four Israeli helicopters had fired three missiles at Oweis' car.
"Israel attempted to assassinate today an officer in the Palestinian intelligence apparatus, Abdel-Karim Oweis, by firing missiles from helicopters at his car," Tirawi told Reuters.
The Israeli army was not immediately available to comment when contacted by Reuters.
Israel has killed at least 30 Intifada activists, including members of Fateh, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Palestinians have condemned Israel's "policy of assassination."
Earlier, Al Jazeera satellite Channel reported that Israeli forces had shelled the city "in retaliation for mortar fires on a nearby Jewish settlements a few days ago."
On Friday, Israel shelled the Palestinian-controlled village of Beit Lahia in north Gaza, wounding at least two civilians, sources on both sides told Reuters.
Palestinian police initially reported that three surface-to-surface missiles were fired, but later said the Israeli army used tank shells.
The army said it fired the tank shells after Palestinians launched several mortar bombs at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, with no injuries reported.
Police said one shell hit a Palestinian house but did not explode. The house was near a Palestinian police post. Another shell hit a stone-cutting factory and a third landed in a lot under construction.
US ENDORSES MITCHELL REPORT ON MIDEAST VIOLENCE
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has endorsed a controversial independent report on Middle East violence and said it could provide the basis for a new initiative for peace in the region.
In the first US comment on the conclusions of a commission led by former US senator George Mitchell, Powell described it as "a very fine report," according to Reuters.
Israel and the Palestinians have welcomed aspects of the report, which calls for an end to violence and measures to restore confidence between Israelis and Palestinians.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has objected to the commission's recommendation that Israel stop work on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel also rebuffed a proposal by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat that he and Sharon meet for a summit to discuss the report. It said there could be no meeting until seven months of violence comes to an end.
Powell said: "We also have received the Mitchell commission report -- a very fine report. ... The Mitchell report may also give us a launch pad to start a new initiative."
According to the agency, Powell's comments appeared to reinforce the impression that the United States intends to press Israel hard to change its position on Jewish settlements.
TWO TOURISTS INJURED IN BOMB EXPLOSION IN JERUSALEM
Two tourists were injured when an explosive device went off Friday evening close to the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem, police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
Ben-Ruby said that the two Polish tourists were lightly wounded in the explosion, which occurred along a palm-lined walkway leading to the Jaffa Gate, said the spokesman, cited by Haaretz newspaper.
PALESTINIAN CHILD KILLED IN ANOTHER DAY OF RAGE
A Palestinian boy was killed in clashes with the Israeli occupation forces at Mintar (Carni) crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel, said Al Jazeera satellite channel.
Meanwhile, four Palestinians were injured on Friday, declared as a day of rage, in clashes that erupted in Beireh and Tulkarem in the West Bank.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli bulldozers and tanks firing shells moved into a Palestinian-controlled city in the Gaza Strip after a Palestinian grenade attack which the army said wounded two soldiers, reported Reuters.
Palestinian security officials said the vehicles destroyed a police post and three houses up to 800 meters (yards) inside Deir Al Balah before they pulled back. The tanks fired a few shells and blocked a main east-west road to split the strip in two, they said.
However, in a statement to Abu Dhabi TV Friday morning, the head of Palestinian military intelligence, Moussa Arafat, did not confirm the reported incursion, but stressed that the Israelis had blocked roads in the area barring people's movement.
The army said earlier that Palestinians had hurled two or three grenades at an army post, wounding the soldiers, close to the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc in Gaza, said the agency.
A caller to Reuters claimed responsibility for the grenade attack on an army base in the name of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Iman Hejjo Unit, a reference to a four-month-old baby girl killed by Israeli fire during an attack this week.
SETTLERS' DOGS ATTACK, KILL PALESTINIAN
A Palestinian, Kifah Zurub, died Thursday evening of injuries he sustained Wednesday when Jewish settlers loosed their dogs on him in Mawassi near Khan Younis. The Israeli forces barred the ambulance from rushing the teenager to the hospital, said the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, on Friday.
Another Palestinian died on Thursday, two days after he had a heart attack during the Israeli shelling of Khan Younis, added the agency.
ISRAEL'S MILITARY NEEDS ADDITIONAL $724.5m 'TO FIGHT INTIFADA'
Israeli Finance Minister Silvan Shalom said Friday in London that his ministry was seeking an additional NIS 3 billion ($724.5 million) in this year's budget due to the demands of fighting the Intifada, Israel Radio reported, cited by the Jerusalem Post.
The ministry will not get all of its request, Shalom told reporters, since it has already received a budget supplement of some NIS 900 million.
Any differences of opinion on the matter between the treasury and the defense ministry will be decided by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said Shalom - Albawaba.com
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