Israeli soldiers kill Hamas leader in West Bank (Roundup)

Sep 17, 2010, 11:37 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israeli soldiers shot dead a senior member of the militant Islamist Hamas organization during an arrest raid in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm before dawn Friday, the Israeli military and Palestinian security officials said.

A military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said forces arrived at the house of Iyad Shilbaye, who she said had previously been jailed in Israel for militant activity, to arrest him.

The commandos shot and killed him when he refused to freeze as demanded by the Israeli soldiers who had feared that he was armed, she said. The details of the incident were still being investigated, she added.

Palestinian sources said an army unit raided the home of Muhammad Shilbaye in Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm and ordered him to take them to his brother, Iyad's, house.

When they reached Iyad's house the soldiers blew down the main door and rushed into the house, Muhammed Shilbaye said. He said he heard his brother, who was alone in the house, screaming then he heard several shots.

The army came out later with Iyad's body and left the area after arresting 10 other people from the camp.

The army later returned the body to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which took it to the local hospital, where officials said Iyad, 38, was hit by three bullets, one in the neck and two in the chest, from short range.

The death came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a second round of direct negotiations in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and in Jerusalem this week, as part of a long-awaited revival of the peace process earlier this month.

The new negotiations were overshadowed by a surge in rocket and mortar fire by Palestinian militants from Gaza, and by Israeli artillery and airstrikes, which killed at least three Palestinians since the weekend.

Israeli-Palestinian violence in the West Bank however has become rare and the fatal Israeli raid was the first there in months.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military closed off key roads in the West Bank to Palestinian traffic, banning Palestinian workers from entering Israel to prevent possible attacks by militants during the Yom Kippur holiday. The Day of Atonement, which starts at sundown Friday and is the most holy day in the Jewish calendar.

Public life and shops close from the early afternoon and traffic comes to a standstill with even highways empty of cars. Radio and television stations stop broadcasting and public transportation, including air traffic, is shut down, as religious Jews pray for forgiveness for sins committed during the past Jewish calender year.

Sealing off the West Bank by shutting down roadblocks on key roads, paralyzing Palestinian movement, became a routine practice by the Israeli military during Jewish holidays after the second Palestinian uprising erupted in late 2000 amid a deadlock in peace negotiations.

In 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber had killed 30 Israelis celebrating the Jewish Pesah (Passover) holiday at a hotel north of Tel Aviv in 2002.