Troops Kill Shepherd, 85, in Gaza Strip

Israeli troops fatally shot an elderly shepherd Tuesday near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and killed two other Palestinians in West Bank clashes.

An army spokeswoman said a Palestinian was spotted riding a donkey southwest of the settlement of Netzarim “in an area in which Palestinian movement is prohibited. Troops fired at him, and his body was then returned to the Palestinians.” The incident, she said, is under investigation.

Palestinian security sources identified the dead man as Abdullah Ashab, 85, a shepherd from the village of Mughraqa, adjacent to Netzarim. Netzarim and other Jewish settlements on occupied land in the Gaza Strip have been frequent targets of attacks by Palestinians during a 29-month-old uprising for statehood.

In the West Bank city of Jenin, undercover soldiers raided an Internet cafe and killed an 18-year-old Palestinian during a gun battle, witnesses and medics said.

The army said that he had thrown a gasoline bomb at the troops and that seven suspected militants were detained in the raid. Witnesses said the dead man was not a militant, nor were four of the six Palestinians wounded during the clash.

In Tulkarm, also in the West Bank, soldiers opened fire during a stone-throwing incident, killing one man whom Palestinian witnesses described as a bystander. The army said he was a gunman.