December 31, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 26, 1423

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TEL AVIV, Dec 30: Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians on Monday, including a man trying to enter Israel from the Gaza Strip, military sources said.

They said the man was killed in an exchange of fire after he cut through a wire fence surrounding the Gaza Strip and shot at an Israeli patrol.

In a statement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas, identified the man as Ibrahim Faraj, 20, from the Nusseirat refugee camp, near Gaza City.

The hardline group vowed to “continue the struggle and jihad until the Israeli occupation is kicked out of all Palestinian lands”.

Hamas and its smaller rival, Islamic Jihad, refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, although Hamas officials have said they would agree to an indefinite ceasefire if Israel withdrew completely from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, a Palestinian was killed after his car rammed a stationary army jeep, running it off the road near the northern town of Jenin, the sources said.—AFP