By Izzat Ramini
Ramallah-Albawaba.com
A Palestinian policeman killed an Israeli soldier Saturday and injured two others, one critically, before being shot dead at an Israeli military compound at Kefar Darom in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources told Albawaba.com.
Palestinian officials identified the policeman as Baha'-eddine Saeed, 28, from the nearby village of Deir el-Balah.
The Israeli soldier, 21-year-old Baruch Plum from Tel Aviv, was killed after the Palestinian "penetrated the compound and fired in the soldiers' direction, hitting one of them," the Israeli army said in a statement.
The policeman's body was sent to the nearby Shifa hospital before a funeral was held.
Haaretz newspaper reported that the soldiers were on patrol near the settlement's greenhouse when "a lone Palestinian gunman opened fire on them."
In response to the attack, Major General Yom Tov Samia said the "IDF would not hesitate to retaliate at Palestinian commanders who send policemen and officers to perpetrate attacks against IDF forces," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
A mourner at the policeman's funeral told the agency that the policeman launched the attack to "avenge the killing of someone close to him."
Sources told Albawaba.com that Saeed had been jailed in Israeli prisons for six years, adding that Israel's security agents were searching for the policeman on charges of carrying out attacks.
Saeed is a father of three, two girls and a boy, died at the age of 30, sources told Albawaba.com
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority ordered a probe into the attack by the police officer on the army outpost in the Gaza Strip, an official told AFP.
In the meantime, the sources said that shortly after the shoot-out, Israeli helicopters fired rockets on an installation of Force 17 near the Gush Katif Jewish settlement in the southern Gaza Strip, injuring four Palestinians, one of them seriously.
The installation's radio facility was destroyed in the raid, the sources said.
But the Israeli army denied its helicopters had launched an attack, AFP said.
"We deny this report, but reserve the right to retaliate," said an Israeli army spokesman.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
