Masked men shot dead a local Hamas political activist Wednesday as he set out for morning prayers before dawn in the northern West Bank, witnesses said.
Fatah officials in the area denied involvement and blamed Israel. Local Hamas officials said they did not know who was behind the shooting. According to Reuters, witnesses said the vehicle had Israeli licence plates.
On its part, the Israeli army denied any involvement in the shooting in the town of Hable, near the city of Qalqilia.
Family members identified the dead man as Mohammed Odde, 37. They said Odde left his home at 4:30 a.m. to pray at a nearby mosque, and shortly after, he was shot dead.
The incident occurred a day after the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed faction of Fatah, threatened in a statement to kill senior Hamas leaders. Azzam al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah bloc in parliament, said on Wednesday the statement was fabricated. An Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades spokesman in Gaza had confirmed the statement's authenticity.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian man was shot dead Wednesday by Israeli police officers during a round up of "illegal" Palestinian laborers in the flea market of Jaffa. According to Haaretz, police said the man was shot after he tried to snatch a gun from one of the officers. During the struggle the gun went off, fatally wounding the Palestinian, a police spokesman said. The man was pronounced dead by a doctor at the scene.
Neighbors claim, however, that they heard police shouting "stop or I'll shoot" before shots were heard, implying that the shooting had been deliberate and not accidental, as Israeli police claim.
Israeli Arab MK Taleb El-Sana blamed police for having a "light finger on the trigger." "It appears the police have not learned the lessons of October 2000," he said, referring to events in which Israeli police killed 13 unarmed Israeli Arab civilians during protests following the outbreak of the Al Aqsa intifada.
