Palestinians mourn killing of mother and daughter

Hundreds of people marched in the Gaza Strip yesterday during the funeral of a Palestinian woman and her 12-year-old daughter who were shot dead by an Israeli tank, adding to the long list of civilians killed in the 20-month conflict.

A Palestinian eyewitness said the Israeli armed forces opened fire on Kamla Abu Said and her child Amna while they were working on a farm in an open field.

The Israel army expressed sorrow for the "tragic incident" on the strip's fenced border with Israel, saying the pair were shot because they were in a "closed security area" and had looked suspicious.

The funeral came as Israeli stepped up raids into Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank after a new surge of suicide bombings and attempted attacks, which killed five Israeli civilians within a week and injured dozens.

The return of attacks inside Israel has renewed the generally nervous mood. This was illustrated yesterday when an Israeli soldier shot and lightly wounded a deaf Israeli bus passenger. The bus driver suspected him as suicide bomber after he boarded and paid silently, and then failed immediately to leave the vehicle when the worried driver ordered his passengers to disembark.

Ariel Sharon's recent attempt to smash the infrastructure of extremist nationalist groups in the West Bank continues on a smaller scale.

Israel troops in armoured personnel carriers rolled into Bethlehem over night on Saturday in what was reportedly an attempt to arrest Mohammed Shada, a local leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but withdrew soon afterwards having arrested a different man. Witnesses, quoted by the AFP news agency, said the army later blew up Mr Shada's house.

Shortly before dawn yesterday the Israeli army moved into Qalqilya in the northern West Bank and imposed a curfew while troops carried out searches and arrests. A day earlier, its troops raided nearby Tulkarm where a reservist soldier was killed on Friday.