Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, even if members of his divided Likud Party reject the proposal in an upcoming referendum, senior Israeli officials said yesterday in Jerusalem.

　　In the West Bank, Yasser Arafat expelled 20 militants wanted by Israel from his headquarters yesterday to forestall an Israeli raid - a sign of the Palestinian leader's increasing jitters about becoming a target after Israel assassinated two Hamas leaders in the past month.

　　Israel has long demanded that the militants leave, but security sources said there were no immediate plans to raid Arafat's compound.

　　Also yesterday, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and 25 others were wounded by army fire in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, scene of deadly clashes for the past three days. Among those wounded was a nine-year-old girl critically injured with a bullet in the stomach, Palestinian health officials said.

　　Tanks and bulldozers were clearing areas from which the army says Palestinian militants fired rockets at nearby Israeli settlements. Troops fired from tank-mounted machine guns toward groups of young stonethrowers. The army said troops were attacked by grenades, an anti-tank missile and firebombs.

　　In all, 14 Palestinians were killed in Beit Lahiya in the past three days. At least four were civilians.

　　In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, the army killed three Palestinian gunmen yesterday.

　　In introducing the idea of a Likud referendum last month, Sharon said he would be bound by the May 2 vote among 200,000 party members.

　　"The referendum will obligate all leaders of the Likud, and me among them," Sharon said in a speech delivered on March 30.

　　But an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vote would only be an "advisory referendum." A new poll published yesterday showed Likud voters are closely divided, and raised the possibility Sharon might lose.

　　In a speech to the parliament earlier yesterday, Sharon had hinted that he would not be bound by a loss in the referendum. He called the vote "a public and moral duty, not a legal or binding duty," Sharon said.

　　In the West Bank, Arafat was clearly unnerved by an Israeli arrest raid of the town of Ramallah late on Wednesday and early yesterday. The Palestinian leader was concerned that troops were preparing to enter his compound.

　　At 3am yesterday, Arafat ordered 20 fugitives living in his compound to leave, to forestall an Israeli raid, said Ali Barghouti, one of the militants.

　　The fugitives, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, an armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah faction, have been hiding from the Israeli army in the compound for months.

　　(The Associated Press)