Palestinian shot as mortar attacks resume
An armed Palestinian was shot by Israeli troops as Palestinians resumed mortar fire against Israelis in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian who was approaching their outpost at Tel Katifa in southern Gaza, an Israeli spokesman said.
However, because of the darkness and the distance, it is unclear whether the man had been killed or wounded.
Two mortar bombs exploded close to the same outpost, but nobody was hurt, the spokesman said.
The two incidents came lastnight, at the end of a day in which there had been no mortar attacks by Palestinians and no tank or rocket fire by Israel.
However, in the West Bank, three Israeli border policemen were wounded, one seriously, by a roadside bomb, and four Palestinian teenagers were injured by rubber-coated steel bullets in clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Earlier this week, the Israeli army razed part of a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza in response to repeated mortar attacks.
The violence briefly ebbed after Israel promised to ease travel restrictions on the Palestinians, although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for peace talks only if calm was restored completely.
Meanwhile, Christians prepared Saturday for Easter celebrations at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
Good Friday observances in Jerusalem were dampened by the ongoing tension, with only small groups of cross-carrying pilgrims retracing Jesus' steps toward crucifixion along the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows.
