Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians today in the bloodiest confrontation in at least two weeks in the West Bank city of Nablus while a fourth Palestinian was killed in the Gaza Strip.
A fifth Palestinian, a 17-year-old pallbearer, was pronounced clinically dead in Nablus, after soldiers shot him in the head as he helped carry the coffin of his 15-year-old cousin, one of the three killed by the army.
Senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned the killings as "atrocities" and told Reuters he held Israel "fully responsible for the consequences of this escalation." He urged sponsors of the stalled "road map" peace plan - the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia - to do more to restore peace efforts.
Palestinian witnesses said Amjed el-Masri (15), was shot in the chest by a sniper as he threw stones at an Israeli armoured vehicle from a rooftop in the old city area of Nablus.
A 19-year-old was shot in the chest in a separate incident, medics said. Both died of their injuries in hospital. A third Palestinian, aged 26, was pronounced dead on arrival. He had been shot in the back in another confrontation with soldiers, hospital officials and medics said.
An Israeli army spokesman said Masri had been shot while dropping large bricks on soldiers from a roof top, which he called a life-threatening assault, while two other Palestinians had been shot, one while holding a pistol and the other a petrol bomb.
Soldiers later shot a 17-year-old cousin of Masri in the head during an angry funeral for the three, and he was pronounced brain dead in hospital, while another Palestinian lost an eye to a bullet.
Speaking about the funeral incident, a military source said soldiers had opened fire at a Palestinian armed with a gun and another who held a petrol bomb, hitting both.
"We have a catastrophic situation in Nablus," Mahmoud el-Aloul, the Palestinian Authority's governor for the city, said. Nablus has been a scene of frequent fighting between Israeli soldiers and militants in the last few weeks and through much of the three-year Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in which more than 2,290 Palestinians and 840 Israelis have been killed.
The downtown area has been under curfew for at least six days as Israeli soldiers search for militants the Israeli army says are planning more attacks against Israelis.
Today was the city's bloodiest day since four militants were killed in fighting there on December 18th. At least two other Palestinians have died in clashes in the city in the past week.
In the Gaza Strip, soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian outside a military outpost near Khan Younis. Palestinian security officials said he was 17 years old. A military source said the shooting occurred on Friday night and the body was found on Saturday, lying beside a bomb.
A limited Israeli military presence was reported again in Jenin today, a day after a long blockade on the West Bank city had been lifted. The Israeli source confirmed reports by witnesses that several roads in the Jenin area were blocked intermittently on Saturday by armoured vehicles.