Israeli troops killed a fighter from the armed wing of Fatah movement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, medical officials and the group said. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades confirmed one of its members was killed by undercover Israeli troops who were operating in the Balata refugee camp near the city of Nablus.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip was locked down Friday on the orders of the Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak, after Israeli airstrikes kiled seven Palestinians in the coastal territory. In announcing the closure of all border crossings between Israel and Gaza, an Israeli defense ministry official said it would remain in effect for several days and would affect both commercial traffic and individual travelers.
Israel imposed heavy restrictions on movement in and out of Gaza in the autumn after declaring Gaza a "hostile entity."
A strike on Thursday night targeted a car in the northern Gaza Strip, killing two Islamic Jihad activists, medical sources said. The blast also hit a donkey cart traveling behind the car, martyring the woman who was driving it and seriously wounding her passenger, a child. Two pedestrians were also wounded.
In another night-time hit, two Hamas members died when a missile struck a car in the southern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.
