Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that the killing of three Palestinians in southern Gaza by Israeli soldiers is a deliberate violation of the declared ceasefire deal.

"This violation is made on purpose," Abbas said in a written statement sent to reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Abbas made the statement shortly after three Palestinian teenage boys were shot dead by Israeli troops in the southern Gaza town of Rafah earlier on Saturday, an incident putting the fragile calmness between the Palestinians and Israelis at jeopardy.

"The Palestinian National Authority will not turn a blind eye to the shedding of the blood of our people and our children. We can never accept opening fire at our children who pose no danger at all," said Abbas.

The Palestinian leader said the Palestinian children "are as precious to their parents as the Israeli children to their parents."

Condemning the Israeli shooting as "unjustified", Abbas urged Israel to take serious actions to show commitment to the truce.

"If the Israeli government really wants to keep the calmness and the ceasefire, it should prove this in act on the ground," he said.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a truce deal at a February summit and Palestinian militant groups agreed to abide by the conditional ceasefire till the year end in mid March.

Saturday's deadly shooting marks the first time Israeli troops sprayed gunfire at Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the comprehensive truce was hammered out.

Source: Xinhua