Israeli troops kill 5 Palestinians in W.Bank, Gaza

Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in separate incidents yesterday, including the stepmother of a militant who was crushed to death when Israeli forces razed their Gaza home, Palestinian sources said.

They said the elderly woman had apparently not heard warnings to leave the building. Israeli military sources said soldiers searched the house before destroying it.

Late yesterday, Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire on the edge of a Gaza City suburb, killing two Palestinian medical staff as they worked inside a hospital in the area, the hospital's director said. The army was checking the report.

In the West Bank, witnesses said a Palestinian policeman was shot as he and others fled their base in Qalqilya during an army raid.

A Palestinian youth was also shot dead by troops during a stone-throwing clash in Nablus, witnesses said.

In Gaza's al-Maghazi refugee camp, army sappers blew up the family home of Baha Saeed, a suspected militant from Fatah faction who killed two Israelis in an attack on the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom shortly after the uprising began.

Saeed was shot dead during that assault.

Palestinian security sources and medics said Kamla Saeed, Saeed's stepmother, was found dead in the debris of the home.

"She was partly deaf and apparently she was not aware of what was happening," said Khaled Saeed, one of Kamla's stepsons.

"Israeli troops were acting in a brutal way, they got us all out of the house so fast and in an aggressive manner, they gave no chance for us to see who was out and who was in," he said, adding that three of his brothers were detained by troops.

The army said it was investigating the report of Kamla Saeed's death. But military sources said the demolition took one and a half hours during which troops scoured the house to make sure it was empty and kept onlookers at a safe distance.

Israel says its policy of home demolitions deters militants from carrying out suicide bombings and gun attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups denounce it as collective punishment.