41.   Security was extremely tight as thousands of Palestinian policemen and Israeli troops were deployed to protect Arafat.

42.   Separately, Palestinian officials said a Palestinian policeman was killed during an Israeli tank incursion into Palestinian-run territory south of Gaza City.

43.   Soldiers used live ammunition to quell the riot and shot a Palestinian policeman to death.

44.   Stone-throwing clashes in Gaza escalated into fierce gun battles between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian policemen and intensified further with an explosive exchange of anti-tank missiles.

45.   The brigades said he was a former Palestinian policeman and confirmed his arrest two months ago.

46.   The dead included two Palestinian policemen and a member of the Palestinian intelligence service.

47.   The Israeli commander, a colonel who asked that his name not be published, said that his troops killed two Palestinian policemen.

48.   The Israeli army said a Palestinian policeman had fired on Israeli cars near the Katif enclave of settlements in the Gaza Strip, but had caused no casualties.

49.   The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it was responding to the killing of five Palestinian policemen earlier in the week.