Hamas ambushes Gaza convoy, one killed

GAZA, Feb 1 (Reuters) Hamas gunmen ambushed what the Islamic group said was a convoy carrying weapons to Mahmoud Abbas's presidential guard in the Gaza Strip today and at least one person was killed and 17 were wounded, residents said.

Abbas's Fatah faction said the four-truck convoy, which set off from the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, was carrying medical equipment and tents, and accused Hamas of plunging a 3-day-old Palestinian ceasefire into ''grave danger''.

A battle raged between Hamas gunmen and presidential guards accompanying the convoy, according to residents in the area who said a civilian was killed.

Hospital officials said 17 people, including two children, were wounded in the clash, the fiercest since Tuesday's ceasefire halted a surge of violence in which 33 Palestinians were killed.

''A real war is taking place, gunmen are using the heaviest arms they have,'' a witness said.

Sources in the governing Hamas movement said the trucks were carrying weapons for the 4,000-man presidential guard, a force loyal to Abbas and his Fatah faction.

''Hamas's heroes have commandeered arms shipments that came through Kerem Shalom as part of the fight against the Palestinian people,'' a presenter on a Hamas radio station said.

Residents said one of the vehicles was taken over.

Fatah spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said the convoy was carrying generators, tents and medical equipment.

''There are no weapons at all,'' Abu Khoussa told Reuters, adding the ambush ''represented a grave danger to the continuation of the (ceasefire) agreement''.

Asked about the convoy's cargo, a Palestinian security official declined to comment. A senior Israeli official said she knew trucks had entered the Gaza Strip but did not know their contents.

ARMS BUILD-UP US President George W Bush has committed 86 million dollar to provide training and non-lethal equipment to forces loyal to Abbas.

Guns and ammunition are being supplied by key US allies Jordan and Egypt, with Israeli approval, Israeli officials say.

Diplomats say Abbas's military build-up was meant to counter strides by Hamas in smuggling in more powerful weapons into Gaza for its fast-growing ''Executive Force'' and armed wing, known as the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed two gunmen from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant wing in Fatah, in a clash in the town of Nablus, residents said.

An Israeli military source said a force identified two gunmen and fired at them during an operation.

Israeli troops shot dead a third Palestinian near Israel's West Bank barrier, hospital sources said. They said a 17-year-old Palestinian had been shot in the leg by Israeli troops and bled to death.

An army spokeswoman said forces operating near the Qalandiya refugee camp outside the West Bank city of Ramallah shot a man trying to cut through the fence.

Reuters SP DB2124