Gaza Strip Explosion Kills Four Palestinians

Four Palestinians were this morning killed and one seriously injured in an explosion that blew up a car travelling in the Gaza Strip.

A Bedouin living in the area near the Sufa crossing, Suleiman Abu Azra, said that he heard Israeli helicopters overhead and tanks on the other side of frontier.

"I heard a huge explosion and then I saw fire coming from the car," he said. "I started running from my house - I found bodies, arms of people spread all over."

But the cause of the explosion was not clear. The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident. Several Kalashnikov assault rifles were discovered nearby and there are reports that at least two of the as yet unnamed men were members of the Palestinian security forces.

Earlier today Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a refugee camp workshop in Jebalya, just north of Gaza City, suspected of manufacturing mortar shells.

The building was destroyed but there were no apparent casualties. An Israeli army spokesman said the attack was in response to five mortar attacks over the past three days on Israeli targets in Gaza.

Also today, an Israeli human rights group said the military has demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes and uprooted crops on thousands of acres of farmland in flagrant violation of international law during the past 16 months of fighting.

In its report on house demolitions, Betselem cited reports by the UN Relief and Works Agency as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross to claim that more than 5,100 Palestinians have been made homeless since the current wave of violence began in September 2000.

The army said in a statement that it acted according to the "necessities of war" and was trying to protect Israeli soldiers and civilians. "In the framework of this current fighting, the IDF [Israeli military] is compelled ever so often to harm private property and even destroy it."

The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, turned down a Palestinian request to ease travel restrictions and also dismissed a pledge by the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, to stamp out "terrorist groups".

Employing some of the strongest language he has ever used to denounce Palestinian militants, Mr Arafat said the groups do not "represent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations for freedom" in a column written for the New York Times and reprinted in the Guardian.

But Mr Sharon said he would again hold ceasefire talks soon with Palestinian representatives.

The Palestinian parliament's speaker, Ahmed Qureia, said it was "a step we can build on" and reiterated Palestinian support for a truce with Israel.