Two Palestinians killed in flare-up of violence

They said troops shot dead a Palestinian bystander and wounded 12 people in fighting between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Israeli troops firing into the Gaza Strip also killed a Palestinian man near Gaza's boundary with Israel where militants and soldiers have exchanged fire in recent days, witnesses said.

The incidents were the latest to mar a nine-month-old cease-fire. Israel has stepped up operations against militants, including deadly air strikes in Gaza, since a suicide bomber killed five people at an Israeli shopping mall last week.

In Nablus, witnesses said Israeli soldiers opened fire after gunmen, mingling with youths throwing stones at soldiers, shot at troops during an arrest raid. The wounded included stonethrowers and a gunman, the witnesses said.

The Israeli army said troops had fired towards Palestinian gunmen who shot at them, but did not believe their fire had hit anyone. The army denied targeting stonethrowers.

Military sources said two soldiers were also lightly hurt from an explosive device thrown by Palestinians during the raid. They said gunmen had opened fire several times at the troops.

The Israeli army regularly raids Nablus, a bastion for militants behind suicide bombings against Israelis during a five-year-old Palestinian uprising.

In the Gaza Strip violence, witnesses said a Palestinian farmer on his way to his fields was killed by Israeli fire from across the boundary line with Israel. Palestinian witnesses said the man, from Abassan village, was killed by a tank shell.

The Israeli army said soldiers had fired in the air from inside Israel with light weapons to prevent Palestinians from approaching the boundary fence, but had not fired shells.

Palestinian militants have sporadically fired rockets into Israel from Gaza since Israel's withdrawal from the impoverished strip in September following 38 years of occupation. The rocket fire has prompted Israeli fire in response.

Witnesses said militants had fired rockets at Israel from near Abassan overnight. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has struggled to impose order in Gaza since the Israeli pullout.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)

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