Three shot dead as thousands protest at Israeli air strike

Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip killed at least three people yesterday, including a boy aged 16, as thousands poured into the streets to mourn seven killed in a missile strike.

Troops shot dead a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas aged 21, a policeman of 35 and the boy, witnesses said. The army said it fired at the Hamas member who was near a rocket launcher but was unaware of the other two deaths.

Earlier, Hamas militants had fired a home-made rocket at an Israeli town in retaliation for a missile strike that killed a Hamas commander and six others. There were no injuries in the rocket attack on the town of Sderot.

Thousands poured into the streets yesterday for the funerals of people killed on Tuesday when an Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile that destroyed a white car. A second missile exploded in the street, wounding at least 50 bystanders, witnesses said. The coffins of the dead were covered in green Hamas flags. Mourners shouted: "God is great, revenge, revenge!" Some fired guns in the air.

Israel said the target of the air strike was Saed Arabeed, 38, a Hamas commander believed to be responsible for raids against Israelis. Two of the dead were Hamas militants, Palestinians said, while the others were civilians.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prime Minister-designate, Mahmoud Abbas, has asked for a two-week extension to form his Cabinet, because of a dispute with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian President, over who should be Interior Minister, in command of the security forces.