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3 Palestinians Killed by Bomb That Explodes Prematurely
By GREG MYRE
ERUSALEM, Aug. 3 - Three Palestinians were killed and more than a dozen wounded Tuesday in a large explosion that was apparently set off inadvertently by Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza Strip.
The blast occurred during early morning clashes between the militants and the Israeli military. The army entered the Rafah refugee camp in tanks and other armored vehicles in a search for weapons-smuggling tunnels.
The Israelis and the militants exchanged fire, but the military said it had had nothing to do with the explosion.
Videotape taken by Associated Press Television News showed a group of Palestinians placing a detonator in an alley. A few minutes later, the blast rocked the crowded neighborhood.
The target appeared to be an armored Israeli bulldozer, but all the casualties were Palestinians.........
........In another development, Hamas took the unusual step of releasing a videotape saying it would step up rocket attacks on Sederot, in Israel, if the military did not withdraw from Beit Hanun, in northern Gaza.
"Residents of Sederot, stop your army's crimes and get it out of Beit Hanun, or else you will be the ones paying the price,'' a masked gunman said in the video, which was broadcast on the Arabiya satellite channel.
The Israeli troops entered Beit Hanun at the end of June after rockets killed two Israelis in Sederot, just outside Gaza's perimeter fence.
Despite the Israeli presence, the militants have managed to fire about 40 Qassam rockets during the past month. Palestinians have unleashed more than 300 Qassam rockets in recent years, but they are highly inaccurate and rarely cause serious damage or casualties.
Palestinian factions previously issued videotapes made by suicide bombers shortly before they carried out their attacks. But the factions halted the practice when Israel stepped up its retaliatory measures, including tearing down the houses of the bombers.
The broadcast was believed to be the first time Hamas has issued a video warning of attacks. Hamas has carried out dozens of suicide bombings against Israel and is responsible for most of the rocket fire.
In another development, King Abdullah II of Jordan criticized the Palestinian leadership for what he described as changing demands, and he urged them to carry out reforms.
"We want the Palestinian leadership to declare clearly what it wants and not surprise us every now and then with some decisions, or by accepting things that it did not accept before," he said in an interview on Al Arabiya....
