Palestinian security forces are being deployed in the northern Gaza Strip with an aim to prevent attacks on Israel by resistance groups.

The deployment on Thursday comes after newly elected Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas ordered security services to halt attacks against Israel.

"We have begun deploying our forces north and east of Gaza City to prevent any violations or attacks against Israel," a senior Palestinian security official said after Israeli security officials and Palestinian commanders met earlier during the day.

"There was a security meeting this morning and Israel gave its green light to our working plan.

"We have guarantees from Israel that the posts will not be targeted at any time day or night and that there will be no incursions."

Initial deployment

About 1000 members of the Palestinian border police force, military intelligence and national security are involved in the initial deployment.

"Instructions have been given to the troops that anyone who is seen using mortars towards Israel will be arrested," a Palestinian source said.

Israel's army radio said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had authorised the deployment of nine regiments of armed Palestinians in northern Gaza.

Members of the Force 17 presidential guard were among the security forces authorised to operate in the area, the radio said.

Abbas has been in Gaza City since Tuesday to talk the leaders of Palestinian resistance groups into a ceasefire with Israel. 

After attending prayers at the city's main mosque at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Abbas said he was confident he could reach an agreement with the groups.

Two Palestinian Boys Killed by Israeli Troops

Israeli occupation troops have shot dead two Palestinian boys - one 14-year-old and the other 13 - in two separate incidents.

In the northern West Bank, 14-year-old Salah al-Din Abu Muhsin was shot as he played with a toy gun he had been given as a present for the Eid holiday, witnesses and medical sources said.

Relatives of the boy said on Thursday that he was with a group of children and youths throwing rocks at the soldiers when he raised a homemade toy gun put together from metal scraps and aimed it at the troops.

A soldier shot the boy, they said, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital in the nearby town of Jenin. An Aljazeera correspondent reported he had been shot in the back.

Confrontations erupted after Israeli military patrols raided the town in the morning, Aljazeera's correspondent said. 

The Israeli military said a large crowd of people had gathered and were beginning to riot when troops spotted what appeared to be an armed man in the crowd and fired.

Rafah killing

Several hours later, a 13-year old Palestinian boy was shot dead in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, while walking with his family during the Eid festival, medics said.

Salah Abu al-Aish was hit in the neck as they passed near the entrance to Rafah's sprawling refugee camp.

The sources said it was not clear why the soldiers opened fire.

An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers opened fire when they spotted two Palestinians crawling very close to the Tarmit army outpost.

The two deaths raised the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian uprising to 4713, including 3659 Palestinians and 980 Israelis.

Meanwhile, fighters of the armed resistance group, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, claimed to have killed a suspected Palestinian collaborator in the West Bank.

The 45-year-old man died in a hail of gunfire on a street near Jenin.

PHOTO CAPTION

An unidentified relative of 13-year-old Palestinian Salah Abu al-Eysh looks at his body in the morgue at the Najar hospital in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005. (AP)