GAZA CITY, April 9, 2005 - (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Violating the truce observed by the Palestinian resistance factions, Israeli occupation forces gunned down on Saturday, April 9, three Palestinians while playing football in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza.

“I saw a group of youths playing soccer in a playground about 50 meters from the fence,” Wael Barhoum, 26, told Reuters.

“Suddenly there was gunfire toward the youths from the Israeli side. I ran towards the playground and we saw two of the youths were dead and a third was wounded.”

A third underwent surgery at a Rafah hospital and later died of his wounds, said Palestinian medics.

The three were identified as Ashraf Mussa, Khaled Ghanam and Ahmad al-Jazzar, reported the Israeli Haaretz daily.

Israeli military sources claimed the soldiers spotted five Palestinians inching towards the Israel-Gaza border a number of times and fired at them after they failed to heed calls and warning shots in the air to stop.

The occupation army said it had launched an investigation into the shooting, the first deadly attack since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared on February 8 a ceasefire to halt more than four years of violence.

Palestinian resistance factions agreed on March 17 to abide by the three-month truce until the end of 2005.

Palestinian protesters carry a model of the Dome of the Roce during a rally in Ramallah. (Reuters)

Palestinian resistance fighters fired a slew of mortar bombs at Jewish settlements in Gaza after the killing.

No one was injured in the attack, but one house was damaged, according to Haaretz.

However, a top leader of the Islamic Jihad group said the de facto truce was still in force despite the killing.

“So far, the Palestinian factions have not declared an end to the calm ... but they are studying the issue anew because of continued Zionist aggression,” Mohammed al-Hindi told a news conference.

Earlier, a leader of Al-Quds Brigades, the group’s military arm, said they were no longer bound by the truce.

Abbas called the incident a deliberate violation of the ceasefire declared at Sharm El-Sheikh summit.

“The Palestinian youths who were killed were unarmed children and did not pose a threat to Israel,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 Palestinians demonstrated on Saturday and warned of a third Intifada if rightist Jews storm Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine as plotted Sunday, April 10.

Israeli police have increased their presence in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) and have said they would bar Jewish activists from carrying out plans to enter the revered site.

Israel's Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio he feared Jewish activists would seek to provoke tensions at the site “to stop the disengagement”, Israel's plan to remove Jewish settlers from Gaza in July.

More than 10,000 Palestinian demonstrators, some hoisting a large diorama of the shrine, held three separate protests in the West Bank town of Ramallah, and the Gaza Strip.

“If the Zionists defile al-Aqsa mosque, they will be planting the seeds of the third Intifada ” a senior Hamas militant leader, Nizar Rayyan, said in Gaza.

Palestinian resistance factions threatened Friday to abandon the de facto truce if the Jewish activists tried to enter the shrine.

A provocation at the shrine could inflame Muslims worldwide and jeopardize US-backed efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.

Sunday's Jewish rally is planned for the eve of Sharon's meeting in Texas with President George W. Bush.