West Bank Raid Leaves 1 Dead, 4 Injured05/04 06:12

   

   NABLUS, West Bank (AP) -- One Palestinian man was killed and four others 
seriously wounded during an Israeli military raid in the Israeli-occupied West 
Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

   The Palestinian Health Ministry said the man's wife was in labor at a local 
hospital when she was informed of his death.

   The Red Crescent said five people were hit by gunfire during an Israeli 
military operation. Nayef Firas Ziad Samaro, 26, was killed, according to the 
Health Ministry, and his body was brought to the hospital where his wife was 
giving birth. Additionally, a 12-year-old was shot in the shoulder, according 
to the Red Crescent.

   The raid took place as schools were letting out for the day, in an area 
crowded with civilians, witnesses said.

   Israel's military in a statement said it responded to a confrontation in the 
Nablus area in which several "terrorists" threw rocks toward soldiers. Soldiers 
fired and "several hits were identified."

   Palestinians, rights groups and international observers are warning about 
the worsening violence, where young Palestinian men are being killed with 
increasing regularity amid a broader climate of arson, vandalism and the 
displacement of farming communities near Jewish settlements and outposts in the 
West Bank.

   At least 42 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the year, 
according to the United Nations humanitarian office. Armed settlers were 
responsible for at least 11 of those fatalities.