A Palestinian was killed Tuesday by shrapnel from a tank shell fired by the Israeli army during clashes in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said reports.
Naim Daran, 50, was killed in his home in the northern sector of Ramallah, which took a direct hit from an Israeli tank shell, a source told AFP.
Haaretz newspaper reported Wednesday that five Israelis were injured north of Jerusalem in two separate incidents.
The seriously injured was a 30-year-old woman.
The paper said that Palestinians in a car opened fire on a vehicle near the Qalandia refugee camp between Ramallah and Jerusalem, hitting the woman in the chest with two bullets.
Two men in the car were lightly injured, including the driver, said the paper, adding that all three were from Jerusalem.
Israeli soldiers found indications that the gunmen escaped to the nearby village of Rafat in Area B (under Israeli security control), and then fled to Ramallah, sources told the paper, adding that the gunmen were members of Force 17.
“Border Police patrols entered Rafat in pursuit of the attackers but came under fire, and two police officers were lightly injured by shrapnel,” a military spokesman told Haaretz.
Five Palestinians, meanwhile, were wounded by rubber bullets and taken to hospital after throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.
The clashes broke out after exchanges of fire between armed Palestinians and Israeli soldiers at dawn, near the village of Beit Rima, near Ramallah.
In Ramallah itself, about 1,000 people attended a funeral for Hussam Imad al-Disi, 17, shot dead by Israeli soldiers during clashes Monday outside the nearby Qalandia refugee camp.
“Revenge, revenge!” the mourners shouted. “The doors of the Aqsa are made of steel; they only open for the martyr,” cheered others, many carrying Palestinian flags.
The Israeli army said that there was a link between the arrest of brother of Fateh official in Ramallah and the gun fight in Ramallah, according to Haaretz.
“The IDF saw a link between the arrest of Hisham Barghouti two days ago at the Allenby Bridge crossing two days ago and the fire fights near Ramallah,” a sources told the paper.
Barghouti was arrested as for trying to smuggle night-vision equipment into the territories.
“He is the brother of Ramallah strongman, Marwan Barghouti, who is considered a leader of the armed struggle against Israel in the Al-Aqsa Intifada.”
Another possible reason for the escalation in the area, said the paper, is the departure of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from Ramallah after a two-day stay in the city where he met US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday. Nonetheless, during Arafat's stay in Ramallah there were two shooting incidents in which two settlers from Ateret were injured, the source said – Albawaba.com
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