Palestinian officials have blamed Israel for a blast in the West Bank town of Tulkarem today that killed a leader of a militant Palestinian movement.
Hospital sources in Tulkarem confirmed the death of Raed Al Karmi (30), the leader of the town's branch of the Al Aqsa Brigades, a radical offshoot of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah organisation.
They said he was killed while walking to work in the east of the town. Israeli security sources said he was in a vehicle.
The Israeli sources said he was wanted by the Jewish state in connection with the murder of two Israeli restaurant owners killed in Tulkarem in January last year and that he should have been in prison.
Israel tried to assassinate Mr Karmi on September 6th last year, when helicopters fired rockets at his vehicle. Two other Palestinian militants were killed in that attack. Israeli police used bulldozers to destroy several houses in the Arab neighbourhood of Al Isawiya in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem today, it has been reported.
A police spokesman also said an Israeli court had issued destruction orders for 17 houses that were "built illegally" in the district.
The demolition came amid a furious row over the destruction of up 55 Palestinian houses in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army that aid organisations and UN groups say left hundreds of people homeless in mid-winter.
AFP