Israel deported the brother and sister of a Palestinian activist from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip Wednesday as part of an internationally condemned policy it said was aimed at deterring attacks on Israelis. Lawyers for Kifah and Intisar Ajouri, siblings of a activist accused by Israel of organizing a resistance bombing that killed five people in July, said the two crossed into the Gaza Strip in an Israeli military vehicle.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday they could be banished to Gaza for two years after finding they helped their brother Ali Ajouri, killed by Israeli troops last month, hide from security occupation forces and transport explosives.

Palestinian officials and Amnesty International called the expulsions -- Israel's first since a Palestinian uprising erupted two years ago -- a war crime.

But setting limits for the military, the court ruled that a activist's relative could not be expelled solely on the basis of family ties but had to pose a security risk, even if the army believed deportation could dissuade others from mounting attacks.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian woman Intisar Ajouri (R) enters the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem September 3, 2002. The court ruled that Intisar and her brother Kifah, could be expelled to the fenced-in Gaza Strip for two years because they are accused of helping their brother, suspected of masterminding a bombing, to hide from security occupation forces and move explosives. (Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters)