Israeli troops killed a Palestinian member of the militant Islamic group Hamas today at an army checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said.
A Palestinian hospital official accused Israeli soldiers of letting the man bleed to death after he was shot in the leg. A Hamas official called the killing an ugly assassination .
But an Israeli military source denied the charges and said the man tried to pass the checkpoint with a group of other men. When soldiers turned them back, he tried to grab a knife from the bullet-proof vest of an Israeli officer who then shot and wounded him, the source said.
Ramallah hospital director Mr Husni Attari said the man was hit in the thigh and arrived dead.
"He was hit in a major artery but the wound was not deadly if it was tended to immediately...but he was left to bleed to death and ambulances were prevented from reaching him for 45 minutes", he told Reuters.
But the Israeli source said he was treated first by Israeli medics and then Palestinian ambulance workers when they arrived at the scene.
"There was no delay in treating the wounded man. He was treated by both sides and when his condition was stabilised he was taken away by the Palestinian ambulance", the source said.
Meanwhile Israel launched four surface-to-surface missiles at the eastern Gaza Strip today and fired tank shells at two towns in northern Gaza, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.
There were no reports of casualties and no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
The missiles struck an open area under Palestinian control where a cemetery and agricultural fields are located, the security sources said. Four Israeli tanks then proceeded 200 metres into Palestinian-ruled territory, they said.
Witnesses and security officials said Palestinians near the northern Gaza towns of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun fired at Israeli troops after which Israeli tanks responded with tank shells and heavy machinegun fire.
Earlier today, the army reported that Palestinians fired at least two mortar bombs at Jewish settlements and said there were sporadic exchanges of fire in the Gaza Strip, causing no injuries.