Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers Tuesday while travelling in their car near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, Israeli public radio reported quoting military officials.
The report said the two refused to slow down their vehicle as they approached a roadblock and ignored warning shots, so Israeli soldiers fired on the car.
A military doctor confirmed the men were dead and they were taken to Tulkarem by ambulance, the radio said, adding that no weapons or explosives were found in their vehicle. It said the military was investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said that Israeli helicopters fired at least four missiles on Palestinian security positions near Beit Jala in the northern Gaza strip overnight Monday.
The officials said the target of the raid was a base of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite Force-17 guard.
The building hit was destroyed in the attack, but there were no immediate reports of any casualties.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the raid on the Force-17 post, which he said was carried out in retaliation for mortar fire on a Jewish settlement.
He said a young Israeli girl had been lightly injured in the mortar attack.
"The Israeli army will continue to use all available means to assure the security of Israeli troops and civilians," he said.
An aide to Arafat, Nabil Abu Rudeina, slammed the continued raids on Gaza.
"It is a dangerous escalation which undermines all the efforts of America and the international community to bring a ceasefire and restart the peace process," he said.
He said the raids were also "proof that Israel wants to sabotage the mission of (US envoy) Anthony Zinni."
"The Americans and the international community must take their responsibilities and stop these attacks. This Israeli policy risks dragging the entire region towards violence and instability."
On Monday, two Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli helicopter raid on the West Bank town of Hebron aimed at a militant of the radical movement Islamic Jihad.
Meanwhile, a Jewish settler was arrested by Palestinian police late Monday near the central Gaza strip town of Deir el-Balah after getting lost, but was later released unharmed.
His car, however, was torched by local residents angered over Israeli incursions on the edge of their town, witnesses said.
Elsewhere late Monday, there were exchanges of fire at the Erez border post at the north of the Gaza strip, Palestinian officials said -- AFP
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