Palestinian Boy Dies in Encounter With Soldiers

Israeli troops shot and killed an 8-year-old Palestinian boy in Nablus on Monday as hundreds of youths on their way home from school threw stones at soldiers, said witnesses and hospital officials.

The children had gathered in the center of the city, hurling stones at an army jeep, witnesses said. Soldiers opened fire, killing the boy, Jihad Faqeh, hospital officials said. Seven other Palestinians were wounded, including two adults who were reported to be in serious condition.

The army said troops fired to disperse stone-throwers, and that two explosive devices were thrown toward soldiers.

Israeli troops have been patrolling Nablus, the West Bank’s largest city, since June, keeping more than 200,000 residents under curfew for much of the time. Israel says Nablus is a stronghold of Palestinian militants and that its military presence there is necessary to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians.

The army said Monday that it prevented a suicide attack Saturday when troops arrested two Hamas bombers near Nablus. Computers packed with explosives were found in the taxi the two were riding in, the army said. The computers were detonated in a controlled explosion.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the army pulled its troops out of the center of Bethlehem, and Palestinian residents ventured out of their homes for the first time since last week.

But the army said there was no formal withdrawal, and soldiers and their armored vehicles remained nearby.

The army said it had arrested 40 Palestinians, including five would-be suicide bombers, in Bethlehem in the last three days and 11 suspects elsewhere in the West Bank on Monday.