"A Palestinian was spotted riding a donkey southwest of
Netzarim (settlement) in an area in which Palestinian movement
is prohibited," an army spokeswoman said.
"Troops fired at him, and his body was then returned to the
Palestinians. The incident is under investigation," she said.
Palestinian security sources identified the dead man as
Abdullah al-Ashab, 85, a shepherd from the village of
al-Mughraqa, adjacent to Netzarim.
Netzarim and other Jewish settlements on occupied land in
the Gaza Strip have been frequent targets of attacks by
Palestinians during a 29-month-old uprising for statehood.
Israel drew rare U.S. criticism for an army raid in the
Gaza Strip on Monday which killed eight Palestinians, including
a pregnant woman crushed under the rubble of her home after
troops blew up a nearby house belonging to a militant's family.
The operation caused State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher to express "serious concern about civilian casualties."
But he said Washington "understands the need for Israel to
defend itself against ongoing violence and terror."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw issued a statement
accusing the Israeli army of using indiscriminate force and
said Britain's ambassador in Tel Aviv would raise its concerns.
"Some 36 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been
killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 20 February," Straw
said. "I have repeatedly championed Israel's right to take
steps to provide security for its citizens, but these must be
within international law."
Israel has said it takes care to avoid harming
non-combatants but notes that militants often operate out of
crowded civilian areas.
INTERNET CAFE RAID
In the West Bank city of Jenin, undercover soldiers raided
an Internet cafe and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian man
during a gun battle, witnesses and medics said.
The army said he had thrown a petrol bomb at the troops and
that seven suspected militants were detained in the raid.
Witnesses said the dead man was not a militant and neither were
four of the six Palestinians wounded during the clash.
In Tulkarm, also in the West Bank, soldiers opened fire
during a stone-throwing incident, killing one man who
Palestinian witnesses described as a bystander. The army said
he was a gunman.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jewish settlers fired at stone-throwers
in the Palestinian village of Asawya near the West Bank city of
Nablus, seriously wounding a 14-year-old Palestinian boy,
medics said. Israeli police said they were investigating.
Village officials said the clash followed attacks on
several Palestinian homes in the area on Monday night by
settlers from the nearby enclave of Eli.
The army reported 45 arrests of Palestinians around the
West Bank over the previous 24 hours, adding to the many
thousands rounded up since the start of the uprising.
At least 1,891 Palestinians and 706 Israelis have been
killed since the revolt began in September 2000.
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