Israelis shoot two Palestinians in West Bank

Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians in the West Bank today, while in the Gaza Strip troops split the territory into three parts, in an operation against the militant Islamic group Hamas.

Despite the latest upsurge in violence, Israelis and Palestinians have been holding increased contacts on the possibility of a ceasefire, though no breakthroughs have been achieved.

William Burns, a US State Department official, met Palestinian Cabinet ministers in London on Wednesday to discuss a peace plan that envisions the creation of a Palestinian state in about three years.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian and wounded his grandfather as the two walked home from a nearby mosque, neighbours said.

The army had no immediate comment.

Troops are conducting a massive manhunt in the city, the West Bank’s largest. Israeli radio said 40 Palestinian suspects had been rounded up there since Wednesday night.

Residents said soldiers went door-to-door through the narrow streets of the Old City looking for suspects, and called through loudspeakers for Palestinians to hand over wanted men.

The troops used small explosive charges to blow the locks off shops and a goldsmith’s workshop was destroyed.

Such shops use chemicals, including acids, that can also be used in bomb making, and the soldiers have torn the structures down in previous raids.

Soldiers also entered the town of Tulkarem in an apparent search for militants and killed a 24-year-old Palestinian.

The army said the man was armed, but Palestinians said he was an unarmed Hamas supporter who happened to be standing near the Palestinian wanted by Israel.

In the Gaza Strip, the scene of most of the recent violence, Israeli soldiers built dirt barricades, blocking Gaza’s main north-south road and carving the territory into three parts.

The army said its Gaza operation was in response to Palestinian rocket attack launched from northern Gaza at the Israeli town of Sderot, just outside the territory. One Israeli was injured.