Israeli soldier shot dead in Gaza

From staff and wire reports

GAZA CITY -- A Palestinian gunman has killed an Israeli soldier and wounded two others before being shot dead during fresh clashes in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army said in a statement that Baruch Plum, a 21-year-old staff sergeant from Tel Aviv, was killed early Saturday during the attack on an army post near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.

It said a lone gunman had fired on troops at the post before being killed in an ensuing gunfight.

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A Palestinian security official named the gunman as Baha Said, 30, from al-Maghazi refugee camp.

The deaths of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian gunman raised the toll in more than seven weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence to at least 240.

Six Palestinians died Friday -- four in new clashes and two from wounds suffered the day before.

The clashes Saturday came a day after Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat said he was continuing to try to prevent Palestinians from fighting with Israelis in the areas under his control.

Meanwhile, U.N. officials are reported to have said Secretary-General Kofi Annan is considering sending up to 40 police and military experts on a fact-finding commission to investigate the violence.

Palestinian leaders want further action, including an international observer force to try to keep the peace in the region, but Israel has objected to the idea, insisting on direct negotiations.

Annan has said repeatedly that his primary concern is to bring a quick end to the worst Palestinian-Israeli fighting in decades.

He has also said that any U.N. force needs the consent of Israel -- a view backed by the United States, France, Britain and Canada.

With any move towards a U.N. force stalled for the moment, talk has turned to the fact-finding commission, which is supposed to investigate the causes of the recent violence.

The Israelis and Palestinians agreed to the fact-finding inquiry under U.S. auspices at an emergency summit last month in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.

The commission is to be led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, a longtime key player in Northern Ireland peace negotiations.

In a move aimed at ending the violence in the region, the Israeli government is imposing tough economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli soldiers have been ordered not to allow any goods to enter Palestinian-controlled territories -- apart from food and medicines.

An Israeli government spokesman said Israel is "taking some economic steps to convey a message to the Palestinians and bring about an end to the violence."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak also has said that Israel is withholding millions of dollars in tax revenues owed to the Palestinians.

The Israeli clampdown is already is having an effect, with Palestinians on Friday blaming shortages of cooking gas and gasoline on the Israelis.

CNN Correspondent Fionnuala Sweeney & Reuters contributed to this report.

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