IDF kills Palestinian boy in clashes north of Jerusalem

Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Monday shot dead a Palestinian boy in the Qalandiyah refugee camp located north of Jerusalem.

The 13-year-old boy, Mohammad Zaid, was killed by soldiers on an operation in the camp. Two other children with Zaid were wounded in the incident.

According to Palestinian sources, an IDF jeep entered Qalandiyah after 5 P.M. Clashes broke out, Palestinians began attacking the jeep with stones and IDF troops responded with gunfire, the Palestinians said.

The IDF, however, said soldiers opened fire when the children attempted to vandalize the separation fence next to Qalandiyah.

The soldiers followed the routine procedure to arresting a suspect. However, after the children fled the scene, the soldiers reportedly opened fire.

Zaid was hit by gunfire in the chest. He was brought to hospital in Ramallah where we died of his wounds.

The IDF said dozens of Palestinian stone-throwers prevented army medics from treating the wounded boy.

IDF kills wanted Tanzim leader

A senior Fatah Tanzim militant was killed in exchanges of fire with troops from the elite Duvdevan undercover unit near the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Monday, the IDF and Palestinian witnesses said.

The gunman, identified as Raed Abayat, 31, was armed with an M-16 assault rifle. An explosive device was also found on his person.

According to the Shin Bet security service, Abayat headed the Tanzim in Bethlehem and was wanted for his involvement in the murder of Israeli citizens.

A gun was also found in Abayat's hiding place.

The soldiers also arrested Raed abu-Jora, who was an aide of Abayat's. He was wounded in the fire exchange.

Abayat has been wanted by Israel for five years.

Security services say he was involved in the murder of two Israelis: Avi Boaz who was killed after entering the West Bank town of Beit Sahur in January 2002, and police Superintendent Moshe Dayan, shot dead in March 2002 near the Marsaba monestary, east of Bethlehem.

Soldiers arrived at Abayat's house in the Bethlehem-area village of Beit Sahur and called on him to surrender.

An IDF spokeswoman said the soldiers arrived at the building with the intention of arresting Abayat and fired at him inside the house after spotting him toting a rifle.

Palestinian medics later confirmed his death.

IDF arrests 13 militants

About thirteen Palestinian terror suspects, including two women, were arrested across the West Bank before dawn on Monday. Three Islamic Jihad activists were arrested in a village south of Jenin, and two in the Nablus area. Five Tanzim activists were nabbed in the villages of Beit Furaik and Brujib.

The IDF stepped up operations against Palestinian terror groups in the West Bank in the wake of a suicide bombing attack last week. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility of the attack in which four Israelis were killed.

It was unclear whether Abayat was suspected of involvement in the bombing.

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