Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian activist from the Popular Front of Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and seriously wounded another Tuesday in Bazariya, north of Nablus.
Mo’taz Daghlas, 26, was killed as he and Mohammad Hojja, 35, were allegedly trying to "plant an explosive device," sources told AFP.
The PFLP announced by loudspeakers in the neighboring village of Borqa, where the two men came from, that Daghlas was one of its members, AFP said.
Haaretz newspaper claimed that after the two, who were driving a tractor, ignored the soldiers' orders to stop, the troops fired warning shots in the air. When the two continued driving, the soldiers then fired directly at them, the paper said, citing a military spokesman.
The Israeli army is reportedly holding the body of the PFLP resistance leader and his wounded comrade.
The death brings to 814 the number of people killed in the nearly year-long Palestinian Intifada or uprising, including 624 Palestinians and 167 Israelis, according to AFP's estimates.
In Gaza, Israeli units backed by tanks moved into the Palestinian autonomous sector in the north and south of the Gaza Strip in two separate operations early Tuesday, Palestinian sources said.
One unit with tanks and bulldozers moved about 700 meters (yards) into Palestinian territory south of Gaza City and destroyed a port building used by European companies, Mahmud Abu Khaled, a member of a Gaza port development company, told AFP.
The operation was in response to mortar fire, an Israeli military spokesman said, cited by Haaretz newspaper.
A similar operation in which a house was destroyed took place in the Tell El Sultan district of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip near the Israeli-Egyptian border, Palestinian security sources said.
There was no immediate Israeli confirmation of the second operation, although a military spokesman said an Israeli position had come under grenade attack in the Rafah sector a day earlier.
No casualties were reported in either incident, Haaretz and AFP said.
The unrest came amid remarks by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat who said that he had issued "strict orders" to observe a ceasefire with Israel.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said there was no evidence on the ground that Arafat's men were respecting a moribund June ceasefire, one of his conditions before Israel will consider re-opening talks with the Palestinian leader.
The flare-up underscored the difficulties of implementing a truce amid soaring tensions as both sides accused the other of "terrorism," hoping to ride the wave of anti-terrorist rage following attacks last week on the United States, AFP said.
Sharon has compared Arafat to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, the main suspect for the anti-American attacks, and demanded he enforce 48 hours of absolute calm before talks to thrash out a longer-term peace can begin - Albawaba.com
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