JERUSALEM - Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man in a West Bank village early Thursday, the third Palestinian killed by army fire in as many days. The shootings marked the first Palestinian deaths caused by Israeli troops in almost a month and drew condemnation from Palestinian officials.
The Israeli army said that before dawn Thursday, an army patrol spotted three men carrying firebombs in Kufr Malek, a village near Ramallah. Troops shot one man after the trio ignored warning shots, the army said. The other two escaped.
But Nael Saleh Beirat, who witnessed the shooting, said troops moved into the village's cemetery early Thursday. He said troops opened fire after some young people on a rooftop threw rocks at army vehicles.
"The soldiers shot them from the cemetery. He was killed," said Beirat, a 31-year-old merchant.
Palestinian medics identified the dead man as Aziz Yousef, 21.
Also Thursday, a Palestinian man died in a Ramallah hospital a day after being shot by troops in the nearby Jelazoun refugee camp.
The military said it had thwarted a mob attack on an army position, and that troops shot Mohammed Ramahi, 21, as he prepared to lob a blazing firebomb at troops.
Witnesses said youths had been throwing rocks, but Ramahi was merely a bystander. "He was just standing here. A bullet hit him in the chest," said Sohaib Jamal, a 19-year-old resident of the refugee camp.
The violence erupted after the funeral of a Palestinian teenager shot dead Tuesday. The army said he, too, was preparing to carry out a firebomb attack near a Jewish settlement.
The deaths were the first in the West Bank since Sept. 20, when troops killed another man accused of throwing a firebomb.
Citing a recent wave of firebombings in the roughly 17-kilometre area between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank, the army has been stepping up efforts to stop them, including laying night-time ambushes near potential targets.
Tensions have also been rising following a series of clashes between extremist Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the northern West Bank. The army said it defused two roadside bombs discovered overnight in the northern West Bank. There were no injuries.
Israel has been conducting peace talks with the West Bank government of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for nearly a year. Despite the talks, Israel frequently carries out military operations in the West Bank, saying Abbas has not done enough to control militants in the territory.
Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the Israeli military operations. He noted that Israel has been observing a ceasefire with the Hamas militant group, which controls the Gaza Strip, and asked why Israel is "utterly unwilling to do the same in the West Bank."
Abbas says he is succeeding in restoring law and order in the West Bank, and says the Israeli military operations have undermined his efforts to rein in gunmen.
