Israeli forces killed a Palestinian Islamic militant today after besieging and then demolishing a house where he had taken shelter in the West Bank city of Hebron.
Palestinian witnesses said troops surrounded the house with 15 jeeps and two tanks. They said there was an exchange of fire before troops brought up a bulldozer to demolish the house.
It was not immediately clear if he was killed by gunfire or if he was crushed when the house was destroyed. An Israeli military source said the man had forced residents at gunpoint to let him into the building.
He said the operation began after residents of the house complied with an order to evacuate the premises.
Israel has rejected calls by Palestinian Authority officials for a two-way ceasefire to replace a unilateral truce declared in June and later cancelled by militant factions after Israel assassinated a top Hamas political leader.
Israel has vowed to pursue members of Hamas accused of responsibility for suicide bombings in a three-year-old uprising against Israeli occupation.
A relapse into violence last month derailed a US-backed "road map" peace plan that envisaged a Palestinian state by 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip - territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.