Palestinians poised to announce truce deal

Violence on the ground showed little sign of abating Friday despite the ongoing ceasefire talks and imminent arrival in the region of US President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.

Sources at the Israeli foreign ministry said Rice was due to arrive in the region Saturday for two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials aimed at kick-starting implementation of the peace "roadmap."

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A senior Palestinian source earlier said she was due to arrive Friday for talks in the West Bank city of Jericho with senior Palestinian security officials.

Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinians in Gaza City early Friday left four Palestinians dead after troops moved in to arrest a wanted member of the radical Hamas group, Palestinian security sources and Hamas said.

The target, Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior member of Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, escaped unharmed, but his son and nephew were killed when troops demolished the Ghoul house.

Ghoul's son, Mohammed, 24, was crushed to death as troops razed the building. The body of Ghoul's nephew, Imran, 33, was also found under the rubble, medical sources, the family and Hamas sources said.

Both were also members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Mohammed Abu Ataya, a 26-year-old Palestinian who belonged to the armed wing of the radical Islamic Jihad, was shot dead outside the house, as was a fourth man, named as Zakaria al-Saidi. Medical sources said he was not a militant.

The deaths brought to 3,371 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000, including 2,542 Palestinians and 769 Israelis.

The clashes broke out after more than 10 tanks backed by two helicopters, surrounded the house and opened fire on it, provoking a volley of fire from those inside.

Shortly afterwards, troops placed explosives around the house and the one next door, blowing them up, the sources said.

A statement released by the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that two of its militants had died in the army raid and vowed to "continue the resistance until the occupation of our country ceases."

In an unusual twist, the group placed responsibility for the violence squarely on the shoulders of senior US officials for their support of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

"The American administration headed by Bush, (Secretary of State) Colin Powell, Rice and (Bush spokesman Ari) Fleischer are responsible for Israeli crimes," it said.