HIGHLIGHTS: "I saw a scene I can never forget, a woman in a pool of blood," Palestinian Eyewitness||Subhi Shurab, 44, Dies by Israeli Fire as He Walks From Khan Yunis to His Home Just Outside Town||Arafat Meets His New Security Chiefs|| STORY: An Israeli tank machine-gunned a taxi in the Gaza Strip Saturday, killing a woman passenger and her two-year-old daughter, Palestinians said. (Read photo caption)

Another passenger in the taxi, Jamal Ismail, 29, said the car came under fire just after passing Netzarim junction near an Israeli settlement. He said he heard 44-year-old Randa Hindi scream as the driver sped away.

"When I looked back, I saw a very horrible scene I can never forget. The woman and her baby were in a pool of blood," he said.

He and Hindi's two other children in the car weren't hurt. Dr. Ahmed Rabeh, spokesman for al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Balah, confirmed the deaths.

Earlier Saturday in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security officials said a 44-year-old man, Subhi Shurab, was killed by Israeli gunfire while walking from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis to his home just outside town.

ARAFAT MEETS NEW SECURITY CHIEFS

Arafat, meanwhile, was meeting in Ramallah with officers of his West Bank preventive security branch to discuss their new leadership. Arafat has been under Israeli and American pressure to restructure his competing and overlapping security forces and direct them to stop Resistance attacks against Israel.

He recently appointed Jenin Governor Zuheir al-Manasra to replace Jibril Rajoub, the commander of preventive security.

Arafat offered Rajoub the Jenin municipal post, which he did not accept. Some preventive security officers threatened not to work under the new commander, raising speculation the force - the strongest security branch in the West Bank - might be disbanded.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians push their broken car in front of an Israeli tank blocking the road near the crossing of the Jewish Netzarim settlement, southern Gaza city, Saturday, June 29, 2002. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
- Jun 29 2:49 PM ET