Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians, one of them an 11-year-old boy, during an encirclement of the West Bank city of Jenin today, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.
Palestinian medics and family members said Mohammed Sahlah (11) was shot dead when he and other schoolboys threw stones at an Israeli tank stationed near the Wad Burqin village close to Jenin.
At the southern entrance to the city, troops opened fire and killed Rami As'oos (18) when he tried to pass the road blocked by an armoured vehicle, witnesses said.
The army said it was checking both incidents.
Israeli forces ringed Jenin and Nablus, which is also in the West Bank, in an operation overnight following a Palestinian suicide bombing inside Israel on Thursday in which three Israelis were killed.
Meanwhile today Palestinian police failed for the second time in a month to arrest senior leader of the radical Islamic Jihad group, Mohammed al-Hindi.
More than 100 armed Palestinian police and security men encircled the streets around the house of Hindi in Gaza City, but were forced back during a firefight with his bodyguards.
Stone-throwing supporters chanting "Allah Akbar" (God is greatest) formed a group at the entrance to his house and shielded him as he made his get away.
Hindi escaped arrest in Gaza City on November 6th when police tried to capture him as he gave a television interview, but Palestinian political officials and supporters intervened.