A Palestinian man was shot in the head and seriously wounded by Israeli soldiers this evening in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, Palestinian hospital sources said.
The sources had no further details on the incident or what prompted the Israeli soldiers to open fire.
Meanwhile Mr Yasser Arafat, besieged by Israeli tanks and under US pressure to rein in militants, pledged in remarks published today in the New York Timesto put an end to attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinians he described as terrorists.
The statement by the Palestinian leader was released ahead of talks in Washington on February 7th between Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon and US President Mr George W. Bush, who has said he was disappointed with Mr Arafat's handling of militants.
Outlining what he called a Palestinian vision in an opinion piece in newspaper, Mr Arafat said: "I condemn the attacks carried out by terrorist groups against Israeli civilians.
But he said: "We are ready to sit down now with any Israeli leader, regardless of his history, to negotiate freedom for the Palestinians, a complete end of the occupation, security for Israel and creative solutions to the plight of the (Palestinian) refugees while respecting Israel's demographic concerns."
An adviser to Mr Sharon called the article a publicity stunt.
Mr Bush's national security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice said in Washington today that the US had not yet seen a 100 per cent effort from Mr Arafat to curb attacks against Israelis.
AFP and