A major in the Palestinian police was killed by Israeli forces in the Al Azza refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Sunday, reported AFP. His death came as Israel continued re-occupying Palestinian self-rule areas in defiance of pleas for restraint from the US and the European Union.
The victim was named as Major Mahed Hussein al Juju, aged 49.
The official Palestinian news agency (WAFA) reported another fatality in the same camp.
It named the victim as Mohammad Suleiman Baraqaa, 32, who was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell that left four others wounded.
Al Jazeera satellite channel reported that an 18-year-old Palestinian was also killed by the invading Israeli troops earlier in the morning.
Meanwhile, the station reported that Palestinian resistance fighters were engaged in fierce shootouts with Israeli forces that were trying to occupy the Palestinian telecom company in Ramallah.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Sunday that Israel's sweeping military operation in the West Bank was part of a "radical plan" by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to re-occupy Palestinian land.
"We have information from different sources, including Israel, that the recent invasion of the Palestinian territories is part of a radical plan by Sharon, which aims at re-occupying Palestinian sovereign areas," he told reporters, cited by AFP.
Some 700 Palestinians and 180 Israelis have died in the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation, according to news reports – Albawaba.com
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