JENIN, March 10 (IslamOnline.net) - Israeli undercover forces killed five Palestinians in this West Bank city Wednesday, March 10, a few hours after a mother of three was fatally shot and a one-month baby died when Israeli soldiers denied him access to a Gaza hospital.

Israeli undercover soldiers assassinated the five activists while on a car carrying Palestinian plates on the entrance of Jenin, eyewitnesses told IslamOnline.net.

"The resistance fighters were ambushed by the undercover agents, who opened fire towards them," said one eyewitness, on condition of anonymity.

Four people were identified as members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military wing of the Fatah group, medical sources in the Jenin public hospital said.

Palestinian sources said the five men are members of the group, and that their names are long standing on the Israeli "wanted" list.

It was one of the highest death tolls of Palestinian activists in the West Bank in weeks.

Israeli military sources were quoted by Reuters as claiming that soldiers conducting a raid exchanged fire with a carload of Palestinian fighters on their way to carrying out an attack on the Jewish settlement of Kadim on Jenin's eastern outskirts.

The settlements are deemed illegal by the United Nations since they are built on Palestinian lands, and Israel has long defied calls for their dismantlement.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the attack as a "massacre".

"This is one of the massacres committed day and night by the Israelis," Arafat told reporters after a meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who has been spearheading efforts to persuade the resistance factions to declare a ceasefire.

The attack came as reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Qorei are planning to meet next week hit headlines.

The date of their summit has not yet been finalized.

Moving to the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian baby died at a checkpoint manned by occupation forces in Khan Younis.

The ambulance, rushing Hossam Azmi to the Mubarak Pediatric Hospital in the city, was stopped for more than an hour at the checkpoint.

Azmi's health deteriorated and he died upon arrival in the hospital.

Also in Jenin, a young Palestinian mother was shot dead by Israeli soldiers during a fresh raid on the city.

Dalal al-Sabagh, 23, was hit in the head and the stomach as she tried to move one of her three children away from the window in the family's home during shooting, Palestinian medical and security sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A 25-year-old man was also seriously wounded when he was hit by shrapnel in the head and an AFP photographer was slightly injured when he was hit in the leg.