Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in a shootout in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday evening, the army said. "A unit on patrol along the border the northern Gaza Strip came under fire," an Israeli army spokesman conveyed. "The patrol responded and killed two armed Palestinians."
Earlier, Israeli forces raided a West Bank village, sparking a firefight that left two Palestinians dead, including an 11-year-old boy, Palestinian officials said, according to the AP. Mahmoud Ibrahim Karnawi, 11, was shot after Israeli soldiers moved into Saida village in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. According to them, the troops were trying to detain his older half-brother, a wanted Islamic Jihad member, and came under fire as they approached the family's home, setting off a gunfight.
Neighbors said the boy was inside the home at the time of the shooting and hit in the crossfire. Hospital officials in the nearby town of Tulkarem confirmed the death. Hospital officials said Tariq Mulhem, an Islamic Jihad activists not related to the boy, also was killed.
Relatives said the boy lived in Israel with his parents - a divorced Palestinian woman is now remarried to an Arab Israeli. The family was visiting relatives in the West Bank at the time of the shooting, the relatives said.
