Shortly after, six motorists wounded in stone-throwing incident.
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN, APidfjeepand soldiers298AP(photo credit: )
Six people were wounded when their vehicles were hit by stones thrown on the Husan bypass road near Beitar Ilit in the Bethlehem area Thursday night, MDA reported.
A few hours earlier, soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man throwing petrol bombs in the same area, the army said.
A motorist had complained that a petrol bomb had landed near his vehicle. Soldiers dispatched to the scene detected a Palestinian tossing more petrol bombs and opened fire at him.
After he was shot, an army doctor immediately rushed to treat the terrorist but he was declared dead, the army said.
The military said three firebombs were found next to the body and noted that thousands of Israelis use the bypass road every day, heading to Jewish settlements in the area.
The Palestinian was not immediately identified, and there was no claim of responsibility.
Also Thursday, Israeli soldiers arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian boy as he tried to smuggle a large mortar shell through a military checkpoint, the army said.
The teenager, Saed Sawafta, arrived at the Hawara checkpoint outside the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday morning. Soldiers checking the boy discovered he was carrying two knives and a 52 mm mortar shell, the army said. The boy was arrested and taken for questioning.
Violent Palestinian groups have increasingly used children and teenagers to try to smuggle weapons through Israeli checkpoints because they attract less attention.
The incident marked the sixth time Palestinians were caught trying to smuggle weapons through Hawara in the last two months, the army said. Nablus is a radical stronghold.
Capt. Nir Taitz, commander of the Hawara checkpoint, said the youth told his interrogators an uncle had put things in his bag to take across the checkpoint. The commander said Sawafta would probably be released later in the day.
Meanwhile, a military court ordered Hassan Yousef, a Hamas leader in the West Bank, released from prison to house arrest. The military prosecutors had 72 hours to appeal the decision, the army said.
Yousef, considered a moderate in the militant group, was arrested last month ahead of a municipal election. Although Hamas had not officially announced its list of contenders for a January parliamentary election, Yousef - who had long advocated Hamas turning to politics - was considered a likely candidate.
