Masked Arab With Banned Flag Reported Killed in West Bank

Israeli troops opened fire Monday on masked Arabs who were marching with outlawed Palestinian flags in the West Bank town of Nablus, killing one of them, Arab reports said.

It was the second reported fatal shooting in as many days in Nablus, the West Bank’s largest town, and occurred during an army curfew imposed on the 120,000 residents.

Earlier Monday, three soldiers were injured when an assailant hurled a firebomb at their patrol in Nablus, the army said. One soldier suffered moderate wounds and two sustained minor injuries, the army said.

Also Monday, a 5-year-old Palestinian girl, Ulfat Nassar, was shot in the head when Israeli troops clashed with stone-throwing Arab demonstrators in the Tulkarm refugee camp northwest of Nablus.

Doctors at Rafidya Hospital in Nablus said she was in “extremely critical condition.”

The violence came as Jews marked Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, with fasting and prayers. The holiday, Judaism’s holiest, ended at sundown.

Shops and businesses were closed in Arab East Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to mark the start of the 23rd month of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

The general strike is to continue today, the fourth and final day of a series of closures called by the underground leadership of the uprising in sympathy with residents of the town of Beit Sahur.

Israeli soldiers and tax collectors have been raiding shops and homes in Beit Sahur, near Bethlehem, for more than two weeks because of an Arab boycott of taxes. Residents say more than $750,000-worth of furniture and machinery has been confiscated.

In Nablus, Arab reporters said that about a dozen Palestinian men were marching near the Najar University campus when an army patrol began chasing them.

Witnesses said that when the demonstrators failed to stop, the soldiers opened fire, killing one of the Palestinians. The victim’s name was not immediately available.

The spokesman’s office earlier confirmed that troops on Sunday shot and killed a masked Palestinian who was among a group demonstrating in Nablus’ central market.

The spokesman, who cannot be identified by name under military rules, said some of the Palestinians were armed with swords or knives. He said troops opened fire when the Palestinians failed to respond to shouts and warning shots.

Arab reports identified the man killed Sunday as Ghassan Hudhud, 32.

In the Gaza Strip on Monday, six Palestinian were shot and wounded by Israeli troops in scattered stone-throwing clashes, hospitals reported.