Israeli tanks entered three areas of the Gaza Strip and shelled a police post on Wednesday, a day after Israel announced that it would observe a unilateral truce.
"The Israeli declaration of a cease-fire is a big lie," said Palestine Police Chief Abdel Razek Majaydeh.
"The shelling incident and the incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas since this morning reflect the lies of this government," he said, quoted by The Associated Press.
Majaydeh said Israeli tanks drove into Palestinian areas at three points in northern and central Gaza and also opened fire on a Palestinian police post south of Gaza City. The chief said the fire was unprovoked, the AP said.
But the Israeli army said it was “unaware of entry of tanks into Palestinian areas,” reported the BBC.online.
Also in Gaza, the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported the Israeli troops opened fire at Palestinian civilians in Yabna refugee camp in Rafah town, reporting no injuries.
REPORT: TWO ISRAELIS INJURED IN WEST BANK SETTLEMENT
Two Israelis were injured, one seriously, when Palestinian gunmen reportedly opened fire near the West Bank settlement of Ariel, Israel Radio reported.
It said the two were apparently highway construction workers.
The gunfire came from a nearby Palestinian village, the radio said, cited by Haaretz newspaper.
PA SLAMS SHARON'S DEFIANCE OF MITCHELL REPORT CALL FOR SETTLEMENT FREEZE
The Palestinian Authority slammed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday for refusing to comply with a US-led panel's call for a freeze on settlement activity in Israeli-occupied areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said reports.
Reuters quoted the secretary of the Palestinian cabinet, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, as saying that "Sharon's remarks represented a rejection to recommendations stated in the Mitchell report."
In a policy address on the committee's proposals for ending eight months of Israeli-Palestinian violence, Sharon rejected its recommendation to halt Israeli settlement growth, though he said no land would be expropriated for that purpose.
"He wanted to assure settlers that he was ready to launch war for the sake of keeping them on Palestinian land, regardless of criticism by the Mitchell committee or international forums," Abdel-Rahman told Reuters.
Sharon noted that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed in interim deals that the subject of settlements would be dealt with in so-called final-status talks.
"There is no link between the halt of violence and the subject of settlements. This subject has to be discussed between the two sides in the future," Sharon added.
"We certainly see no need to expropriate lands for the settlements...There is enough land. In connection with that subject I see no problem," Sharon told reporters.
The report, released on Monday by a panel chaired by former US senator George Mitchell, calls for an immediate cessation of violence followed by confidence-building measures and a resumption of security cooperation and peace negotiations.
Both sides accuse each other of initiating the violence.
Abdel-Rahman said the violence -- as well as all settlement activity -- should be halted first by Israel.
"Settlement is a time bomb, and as long as settlement exists on occupied Palestinian land, resistance and uprising will go on against settlements and against the occupation," he said.
ISRAEL'S DEFENSE MINISTRY BANS ARMY OFFENSIVES, HAMAS VOWS MORE FATAL ATTACKS
Israel's minister of defense on Tuesday banned army soldiers from initiating offensives against Palestinians and ordered them to open fire only when lives were endangered, said reports.
"Minister of Defense Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered the army to cease fire and to follow regulations for opening fire that are activated when lives are endangered," the ministry said in a written statement.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on the Palestinians to accept a "general ceasefire" in order to stop an eight-month-old cycle of violence that has killed at least 444 Palestinians, 87 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs.
"The minister... calls on the Palestinian leadership to immediately halt violent actions as a first step back towards the negotiating table, in accordance with the Mitchell committee," the statement said.
But Al Jazeera satellite channel's correspondent in the West Bank, citing the Israeli side, reported that Israeli forces fired a heavy machinegun at a church in Beit Jala, after they mistakenly attributed the injury of a Jewish woman settler in Gilo to Palestinian fire.
Meanwhile, Hamas vowed more suicide attacks on Israeli targets, saying 24 more bombers were ready, said the reports.
BUSH WELCOMES ISRAELI CALL FOR MIDEAST CEASE-FIRE
For his part, US President George W. Bush welcomed Israel's call for a Middle East cease-fire, and urged Arab nations to seek an end to Israeli-Palestinian clashes, said the agency.
Sharon “appealed” to the Palestinians to work together for an "immediate cease-fire," saying otherwise Israel could not carry out a US-led panel's recommendations to return to peace talks.
"The president welcomes the statement by Prime Minister Sharon," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters, saying the United States "would welcome a similar statement" from the Palestinians.
He said Bush spoke by telephone to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday to deliver the message that "the nations in the region need to be helpful to call for cessation of the violence."
"The president is very concerned about the level of violence in the Middle East and...all nations in the region, particularly the parties that are involved, have to cease the violence," Fleischer said.
After taking a low-profile approach to the conflict in the fourth months since Bush took office, the US administration this week adopted a more activist stance following an upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence last week - Albawaba.com
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