Israeli Officer Slain in Gaza Strip

TEL AVIV —  Palestinian gunmen shot and killed the commander of Israel’s military police in the occupied Gaza Strip on Sunday, military sources said.

Army Lt. Ron Tal, 22, was hit at close range from one of several bullets from a 9-millimeter pistol while he was driving a military vehicle on one of Gaza’s main streets, the sources said.

State radio said a unit of the Palestine Liberation Organization claimed responsibility for the afternoon attack.

Dozens of local Palestinians were arrested and troops were searching for additional suspects, the military sources said.

And in a move unprecedented in recent years, an army spokesman said, Israeli troops clamped a curfew on the area, closed the port of Gaza and banned residents from traveling to their jobs in Israel until further notice.