Israeli Occupation Forces Shoot Dead 3 Palestinians, Detain Dozens Others

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) shot dead three Palestinians and detained at least forty others in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hours before the expected meeting between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon to discuss the implementation of internationally adopted “roadmap” for peace.

IOF troops, backed by dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, raided the northern West Bank town of Jenin and assassinated Sa’id Fahmawi, 22, Palestinian security sources said.

The occupation troops imposed a curfew on the residents and raided dozens of citizens’ houses, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation soldiers shot dead a Palestinian during an incursion in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said.

Mohammed al-Kadra, 24, was killed as IOF troops backed by tanks raided houses in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, the sources said.

Relatives said al-Kadra had been wounded in the raid and as he was being carried to his house Israeli occupation soldiers intervened and shot him dead in a nearby street.

The Israeli occupation army said twenty people were detained in the Khan Younis raid.

Also in the Gaza Strip, IOF demolished five Palestinians’ houses in Za’reb area, in the southern town of Rafah, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, a member of security forces was shot six times in the head and chest by Israeli occupation troops staging an incursion in Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said.

An Israeli under cover unit, driving in a civilian vehicle, assassinated Mahmoud al-Isawi, 32, in the neighborhood of Um Asharayet, south of Ramallah, witnesses said.

IOF did not respond to the attack.

Also in Ramallah, Israeli occupation troops detained two Palestinians after surrounding and searching the multi-storey building where the two had been hiding for seven hours, Palestinian security sources said.

Elsewhere in the occupied Palestinian territory, a 15-year-old Palestinian was shot in the eye by Israeli occupation troops who opened fire at a group of young stone-throwers in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Palestinian medical sources said.