Israeli soldiers shot dead a senior Palestinian militant today during a raid to arrest suspects in the West Bank city of Nablus, medics and Israeli military officials said.
They said a local commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, died in the raid.
The Israeli army said the dead militant, Dahoud Katouni (24) was behind a suicide bombing in March that killed four Israelis near a Jewish settlement.
"Two armed men approached the forces and the soldiers opened fire at them. One of the terrorists was killed and another was wounded," an army spokesman said.
The violence came amid an escalation in Israeli-Palestinian tensions. An Israeli air strike aimed at militants killed three children in the Gaza Strip yesterday, in stepped up Israeli raids on armed groups firing rockets at southern Israel.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the attack, claiming the target was an armed al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades squad.
Witnesses said aircraft fired at least one missile at a car carrying gunmen in Gaza City.
The occupants managed to leap free but a 7-year-old girl, 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old were killed. Doctors initally said two of the dead were siblings but later determined they were unrelated. Fourteen people were wounded.
Agencies