Twenty five Palestinians were injured, at least two seriously, Monday when Israeli troops shelled areas at the southern Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, said reports.
Following the shelling, an exchange of fire took place between armed Palestinians and Israeli occupation troops, said AFP.
It was the first exchange of fire between the two sides since Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ordered a ceasefire on Saturday.
Two of the Palestinians were seriously injured, reported Al Jazeera satellite TV channel.
Army tanks started firing machine-gun rounds and shells into Palestinian land, a Palestinian security official said.
Armed Palestinians then fired back, a Palestinian official told AFP, adding that they were not members of the Palestinian Authority's security forces.
After a heavy exchange of fire, Palestinian security forces intervened and succeeded in stopping the gunmen firing, the official said, adding that Israeli forces continued shooting.
Palestinian homes had been damaged by splinters from tank shells, while doctors said the 15 Palestinians, including at least four boys, had been wounded by bullets and shrapnel.
Meanwhile, five Israeli soldiers were injured Five Israeli soldiers were injured when they were trying to enter a residential area in Rafah, Gaza Strip, said Al Jazeera satellite channel.
AFP said three Israeli soldiers were injured.
Israeli radio stations also reported that Palestinians fired anti-tank grenades and light weapons at Israeli troops in the town, but there were no injuries or damage.
But Israeli military officials said that only a soldier and an officer were light injured.
Mortar shells also hit Israeli targets in the Gaza Strip, leaving no one injured, with bombs falling by the Sufa border crossing with Israel near the site of the gunbattle, the Israeli army reported, cited by AFP.
PALESTINIANS SAY FIRING ON ISRAELI TARGETS DOWN 99 PERCENT SINCE CEASEFIRE
Palestinian and Israeli officials differed on whether the ceasefire promised by the Palestinian leadership was aptly implemented.
A senior Palestinian official said Monday that firing on Israeli targets had gone down 99 percent since Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ordered a ceasefire on Saturday, reported AFP.
"Firing on Israeli targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has gone down 99 percent in the past two days compared with previous days," the official told AFP in Gaza City, asking not to be named.
But Israeli officials had earlier said the evidence that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was committed to his ceasefire call was "not promising."
"We are giving one more chance for peace at present by seeing whether Mr. Arafat will follow through his ceasefire commitment," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's advisor, Dore Gold, told AFP.
"Right now the evidence is not very promising."
Arafat called for a ceasefire on Saturday night following a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed 20 Israelis, plus the bomber, in the deadliest attack in years.
Gold said there had been a drop in anti-Israeli attacks since then, but highlighted a mortar attack in the Gaza Strip overnight and a roadside bombing in the West Bank earlier Monday.
A bomb exploded at the Jewish settlement of Barkan in the northern West Bank, causing no injuries, reported Israel Radio, cited by Haaretz newspaper.
The pipe bomb went off in front of an Israeli car, leaving the driver in a state of shock, a military spokesman told the radio.
The sector was immediately cordoned off by troops.
PAPAL ENVOY BRANDS ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS A ‘PROVOCATION’
AFP also reported that a Papal envoy to the Middle East on Monday called Israeli settlements in the West Bank a "provocation" that had triggered a disproportionate and unjustifiable, albeit understandable Palestinian reaction.
In an interview with Radio Vatican, Cardinal Pio Laghi said that Pope John Paul II's appeal for a ceasefire was being heard by Israelis and Palestinians, but with huge difficulties.
"Overall, the pope's message has been heard with much respect" by both sides, he said.
Laghi earlier said in an interview with AFP that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was making "extraordinary efforts" to bring violence in the Middle East under control in spite of serious tensions.
Laghi traveled to Jerusalem on Thursday to hand over personal messages for Sharon and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, pleading for a ceasefire in the region.
Laghi said that the "messages were accepted with much interest and respect for the pope".
For Sharon "peace is equivalent to security; naturally security is based on a number of conditions," he said in his interview with Radio Vatican.
"For example, these settlements in the territories which should be returned to the Palestinian Authority are in a sense a provocation, to say the least.
"It triggers an absolutely disproportionate and unjustifiable reaction by the other side, which is however a bit understandable."
Laghi met with Arafat after the funeral of senior Palestinian official Faisal al-Husseini on Friday.
"I was surprised that Arafat would dedicate so much time to us, to our mssion after the death of his friend and aide," he added.
John Paul II is to be given a full report of Laghi's meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The report is already in the hands of the Vatican's number two, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
The Middle East crisis was also discussed between the Palestinian Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, and the pontiff in the Vatican on Monday but nothing emerged from the meeting.
The patriarch's visit to the pope had been scheduled for some time but gained new interest because of the current crisis, said Laghi.
"Sabbah can also explain the Palestinian position to the pope," he added.
In his message to Sharon the pope reportedly appealed for a halt to the violence that has raged for eight months.
Sharon's office said that the premier requested that the papal delegation "use its influence and deliver an unequivocal message to Arafat to order an immediate cessation of all acts of terror, murder and incitement."
The pope has made repeated appeals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians since violence erupted in September last year.
During Sunday mass in Saint Peter's square he prayed for the "young victims of absurd violence" after Friday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv killed 20 young people, most of them Israelis, plus the bomber, in the deadliest attack in years - Albawaba.com
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