Palestinian killed in Nablus
IDF kills gunman in Nablus, wounds 2 in Gaza. Palestinians claim all 3 are civilians. Palestinians revise earlier report that Gazan men were killed
Israeli undercover forces shot and killed a Palestinian gunman in the Casbah in Nablus on Saturday. According to Palestinian security officials, the Palestinian was a shopkeeper who was killed during the soldiers' attempt to shoot two gunmen in the West Bank. The man's brother was injured, they said.
The soldiers, disguised as Palestinians, opened fire from a building overlooking a meat and vegetable shop in the center of the town of Nablus when two militants appeared, but hit the two civilians instead, the Palestinian officials said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the Israeli forces shot at a gunman armed with an assault rifle and reported hitting him.
Earlier Saturday, IDF forces identified and shot a Palestinian gunman in the Ein Beit Ilma refugee camp in Nablus. His condition is unknown, and no soldiers were injured.
Israeli forces also shot and wounded two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Saturday near the border fence with Israel, medical officials said. Palestinian sources originally reported that the two had been killed.
After entering the area near the fence to collect what had appeared from a distance to be bodies, a medical team found the men were still alive, Palestinian officials said. Residents of the area identified them as workers at a garbage dump near the border fence with Israel.
An Israeli army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv confirmed the shooting, explaining that soldiers fired at two Palestinians approaching the fence after they ignored shouted orders to stop and warning shots. The troops, she said, reported one of the men was hit by the gunfire.
The Israeli military has declared such areas near the border fence no-go zones for Palestinians, since militants have often tried to plant explosives there.
In a similar incident Friday, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian youths along the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops had shot at suspicious figures trying to plant an object close to the barrier.
Since the IDF left the Gaza Strip, over 100 terrorists, have been killed in dozens of incidents along the border fence, where they were attempting to lay explosive devices or infiltrate Israel.
IDF sources cited several incidents in which underage Palestinians were paid and sent to test the alertness of Israeli forces in the area or carry out preparations for terror attacks themselves.
Ali Waked, Efrat Weiss and Reuters contributed to this report
