Boy, Hamas man among seven Palestinians killed

Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in a fresh surge of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday as the United States vowed to press ahead with a long-delayed "road map" for Middle East peace.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of intensifying a crackdown while the world's eyes were turned to Iraq.

In Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told European leaders Washington intended to promote the peace plan "as it is" without amendments by either side, but insisted it could not be forced on the parties.

In a nine-hour raid on the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early yesterday, Israeli forces backed by tanks and helicopter gunships killed four Palestinians, witnesses and hospital officials said.

A Palestinian gunman was killed in the ensuing clashes. Another three people died in a helicopter missile strike.

Later yesterday, troops shot dead a 26-year-old farmer in his fields in the northern Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, troops shot dead a 14-year-old boy outside his home in the town of Qalqilya. Israeli military sources said forces trying to capture a militant had seen the youth fleeing in the dark, and that he had ignored shouted orders to stop.

Special forces also killed a Hamas militant in a gunbattle in Nablus, witnesses and the army said.
The U.S. has promised to publish the road map, which envisions creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, as soon as Palestinian lawmakers confirm a new cabinet under prime minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen.

Powell, speaking in public later, said he expected that to happen "in the next week or two". "We are ready to engage in a very, very comprehensive and forceful way," he said.