Palestinian boy shot dead in Gaza

Palestinians are outraged at Israel's "crimes"

Israeli troops have killed an 11-year-old boy at Rafah, near the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

The Palestinians say he was shot dead while playing in the street but the Israelis say their forces came under attack and returned fire.

Doctors tried in vain to save Khalil Al-Mugrabi's life

The dead boy was identified as Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mugrabi by hospital officials, who said he was shot in the head.

The boy was the 17th Palestinian to be killed since the adoption of a truce brokered by the United States three weeks ago. Over same period of time, nine Israelis have been killed.

The head of Palestinian Security in Gaza, Abdel Razek Majaidie, condemned the incident as "another crime" by Israel. He said it violated Israel's declaration of ceasefire.

Sporadic violence

The Israeli army said Palestinians threw hand grenades and petrol bombs and gunmen fired on Israeli soldiers posted at Rafah throughout Saturday.

Mr Sharon went to Europe to seek support

In another incident, two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured when a roadside bomb exploded near the West Bank village of Asira al-Shamaliya, near Nablus.

The violence raged a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon returned from Europe acknowledging disagreement with European leaders there over his policies against Palestinians.

But Mr Sharon told journalists he believed he had achieved his main aim - to get the Israeli position well understood.

"There may not be complete agreement, but it's totally clear there is understanding," he said.

Concerns

Mr Sharon went to Europe to seek support for Israel's view of its conflict with the Palestinians and to ask for pressure to be brought on the Palestinians to clamp down on militants.

There may not be complete agreement, but it's totally clear there is understanding

Ariel Sharon

During Mr Sharon's two-day visit, French and German leaders urged him not to undermine the Palestinian leadership with his demand for a total cessation of violence.

French officials said French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin expressed concern that Israel's insistence that violence stop totally would never be met, so damaging the chances of re-starting the peace process.

But Mr Sharon insisted that Israel would "not negotiate under ... violence and terrorism".

As expected, he received a warmer welcome in Germany than France, although Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he had offered Mr Sharon friendly advice to be more "flexible" on the question of continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.