HIGHLIGHTS: Delegation to Washington to Include Saeb Ereqat & New Interior Minister, Abdul Razaq Al-Yahya||Israel Steps up Search for Attackers who Killed 4 Israelis Friday||UN Security Council Puts off Debate on Gaza Massacre until Monday||Growing Alarm over Palestinian Humanitarian Crisis|| STORY: Hamas on Friday appointed Muhammad Deif the new commander of its Izzadin Kassam military wing, following the brutal assassination of his predecessor, Salah Shehadeh, in a bombing strike by the occupation army which also killed 14 others -nine of them children. (Read photo caption)

Israeli media reports added that Deif, 40, from Khan Yunis, is also known as Abu Khaled, as was Shehadeh's deputy. Deif was a most wanted Resistance leader on Israel's list and was held by the PA for several months before being released.

A senior Palestinian official said on Saturday the United States had invited senior Palestinian cabinet ministers to Washington for talks with top officials there early next month. It would be the most senior contact between the U.S. administration and Palestinian Authority officials since President Bush called last month for Yasser Arafat to be sidelined as Palestinian leader.

Palestinian cabinet minister and senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said the delegation would include himself and new Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al Yaha, who is in charge of the Palestinian security forces.

There was no immediate confirmation from the United States.

The talks would take place on August 5 and 6, Erekat told Reuters. He said they would focus on the latest developments in the region. Palestinian Trade Minister Maher al-Masri would also be in the delegation, he said.

ISRAEL STILL SEARCHING ATTACKERS WHO KILLED 4 ISRAELIS FRIDAY

In the West Bank, Israeli occupation troops backed by helicopters scoured the southern West Bank in search of Palestinian gunmen who killed four Israelis, including a Jewish settler couple and their child, in an ambush near Hebron late on Friday.
Occupation soldiers searched the village of Yatta and surrounding areas where the militants are believed to have fled after ambushing two vehicles with a hail of bullets.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian man died of wounds received during a gun battle in the northern Gaza Strip earlier this month, bringing the toll to at least 1,468 Palestinians and 564 Israelis killed since the uprising began in September 2000 after peace negotiations became deadlocked.

FEARS OF SURGE IN VIOLENCE

The attack raised fears of a new surge of violence after an Israeli air strike that killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza City on Tuesday, including nine children and Salah Shehada, the commander of the military wing of Hamas.

Israel's killing of Shehada in a missile strike that flattened his house in a crowded neighborhood of Gaza City drew vows of revenge from Resistance groups.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL PUTS OFF DEBATE ON GAZA MASSCRE UNTIL MONDAY

The U.N. Security Council put off until Monday its debate over an Arab-backed resolution demanding Israel withdraw from seven Palestinian-ruled cities occupied after a wave of suicide bombings last month.

The council delayed the vote after the United States said the resolution must also condemn three Palestinian groups behind a suicide bombing campaign against Israel.

The U.S. -- which has a veto in the 15-member council -- also said the resolution would need to include a demand for an improvement of the security situation as a precondition for any Israeli withdrawal to positions held before a Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.

Palestinian U.N. observer Nasser al-Kidwa called the U.S. stance an "unreasonable" one that "would not help building a consensus in the council."

GROWING CONCERN OVER PALESTINIAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

Officials and experts are meanwhile sounding the alarm over a growing humanitarian crisis in Israeli-occupied Palestinian areas, including reports that malnutrition among children is widespread and increasing rapidly.

"The situation is catastrophic," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said this week in assessing the impact of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and other actions in the 22-month-old conflict.

A report by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) not yet officially released but widely distributed in diplomatic circles has provided disturbing figures.

Thirty percent of Palestinian children under five who were screened suffered from chronic malnutrition and 21 percent from acute malnutrition, up from 7.5 and 2.5 percent respectively in 2000.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian children hold milk cartons and signs declaring their need for food and medicine, as they demonstrate against the curfew imposed by Israel on the West Bank town of Nablus Saturday July 27, 2002. Nablus has been under curfew for over a month, since the Israeli incursion in the West Bank. ( Nasser Ishtayeh )
- Jul 27 4:09 PM