Deportees' plea to halt food aid

MARJ AZ-ZOHOUR (Reuter) - More than 400 deported Palestinians appealed to sympathisers yesterday to stop smuggling food to them because they drew Israeli shelling.

The Palestinians fled their makeshift camp on Saturday during an Israeli bombardment of nearby hills. The 415 exiles, trapped between Lebanese and Israeli lines for more than two weeks, returned to the camp after Israel's big guns and tanks stopped firing late on Saturday. They said they were living in terror. They were again disturbed by the roar of tanks moving on Israel's front lines yesterday, and by Lebanese troops who barred a sick deportee from reaching a hospital in Lebanese territory.

'The shelling was apparently aimed at terrorising villagers supplying us with food,' said Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi, a leader of the deportees and the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

'We appeal to villagers to stop sending us aid to preserve their safety,' said Dr Rantisi, after journalists saw a mule led by deportees and laden with supplies reach the camp in a rare daylight smuggling operation from Lebanese territory. The smugglers apparently hoped Israeli troops would see they were unarmed.

A dozen shells bombarded hills south of the camp on Saturday night, sending the deportees fleeing from their tents.