Israeli Troops Kill 5 Palestinians

Israeli army troops killed five Palestinian men in three separate shootings in the Gaza Strip, army and Palestinian officials said Monday.

No weapons were found on any of the five, according to the two sides.

The army shot and killed three men in central Gaza late Sunday when they approached a heavily guarded border fence with Israel, an area that Palestinians have tried to infiltrate before, the army said. The bodies were found early Monday.

Also Sunday, near the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, troops shot and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian who tried to climb a fence bordering an Israeli-controlled area.

Palestinians said the unarmed man was mentally handicapped and wandered into the area by mistake. Troops opened fire because they suspected the man was carrying a weapon -- but when they reached the body they found he was not armed, the army said.

In Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, a 36-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by troops who opened fire from the nearby Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim, a Palestinian hospital said. Palestinians said the man was unarmed. The army said it was not aware of the incident.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Gaza.html