Israelis kill five Palestinians, including two children Tuesday

JERUSALEM -- Israeli forces killed two children and three gunmen in the West Bank on Tuesday, doctors and Israeli Radio said. Three Palestinians were sentenced to life in prison by an Israeli military court.

Israeli forces looking for suspected Hamas militants in Bethlehem shot three Palestinian gunmen dead after they opened fire on the soldiers from a car, Israel Radio said. The report said soldiers then opened fire on another car they thought was trying to run them over, killing a 10-year-old girl. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The court sentenced the three Palestinians to consecutive life terms in prison after convicting them of involvement in fatal attacks against Israelis, the military said, including a mob killing that horrified Israelis at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising more than two years ago.

In a statement from the military court near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit El, the military said the three were members of an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade cell in Jenin. The group is affiliated with Fatah, the movement headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The military said the three carried out many shooting attacks on West Bank roads and Jerusalem. The commander of the cell, Mohammed Mazlah, was sentenced to nine consecutive life terms.

Among the incidents, the military said he was involved in the attack on two unarmed Israeli reserve soldiers who lost their way and entered the West Bank Palestinian town of Ramallah in October, 2000. A mob stormed the police station where they were taken, beat them to death and threw their bodies out a second-story window.

Another member of the cell received 16 consecutive life terms, and the third was sentenced to four consecutive life terms and an additional 15 years in prison.

The military said it arrested 21 suspected Palestinian militants overnight in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of them is Nadel Nagangiyah, a head of Tanzim in Jenin. Tanzim is a wing of Fatah.

The sources said he was involved in dozens of gunfire and bombing attacks against Israeli forces in the Jenin area and was responsible for recruiting and distributing arms to Tanzim members.