Israelis from the West Bank settlement of Itamar, returning from funerals, killed a Palestinian on Friday during a rampage in the village of Hawara, shooting randomly in the streets and burning cars and a home, Palestinian villagers and a hospital official said.
Israeli police said they knew of a wounded Palestinian in the area and were checking the circumstances and reports of a settler rampage.
According to AP, the villagers said the settlers were returning from the funerals in a cemetery just outside the settlement.
Ohsam Johari, director of the government hospital in Nablus, said Adnan Odeh, 22, was shot in the chest.
Villagers said Odeh was standing at the entrance to his house when the settlers began shooting randomly. They said the settlers burned three cars and one house.
The killing of Odeh brought to ten the number of Palestinians reported dead on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Israeli security cabinet decided Friday afternoon to order the army to reenter Palestinian cities in the West Bank and to carry out operations "against terror as long as is needed." A Defense Ministry spokesman said after the meeting that Israel would "act more intensively, more deeply" in order to protect itself.
"We have to do a more thorough job of clearing out the areas of terrorism," spokesman Yarden Vatikai told The Associated Press.
Israel Radio reported the military was planning a "wide offensive but smaller" than the massive, six-week military campaign that began late March. (Albawaba.com)
