Palestinian shot dead in West Bank clashes: family

A Palestinian was killed by the Israeli army in a clash near the southern West Bank city of Hebron early today, his family said.
Relatives identified him as Munir Ahmed Badarin, in his early twenties.
They said he was shot near Al-Samua in the southernmost part of the West Bank, and died later in hospital.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the circumstances of his death, but said troops in the West Bank had arrested 23 Palestinians overnight as part of their ongoing campaign to hunt down those who kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers last month.
Palestinian security sources said the soldiers had arrested 13 people from the Hebron area overnight, three of them Hamas parliamentarians: Nayef Rajub from Dura, Mohammed Jheisha from Idhna and Mohammed Akel from Dhahiriya.

The kidnapping and murder of the teenagers triggered a chain of events which has led to a major confrontation between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, which has claimed more than 170 Palestinian lives in just six days.

After the teens were snatched on June 12, Israel blamed Hamas militants and began a widespread crackdown on the movement in the West Bank, sparking a surge in rocket fire from Gaza.
After a Palestinian teen was killed by Jewish extremists on July 2 in an apparent revenge killing, the fire from Gaza worsened, and Israel launched a major air campaign on July 8.

Since then, militants have fired more than 750 rockets at southern and central Israel, without so far killing anyone.