A senior member of the Palestinian mainstream Fatah Movement was shot dead on Tuesday night in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian witnesses said.  

Kamel Ghannam, commander of Fatah's armed wing al Aqsa Brigades in the West Bank, was shot dead as an Israeli army unit stormed the Om el Sharaye neighborhood of Ramallah, said the witnesses. The Israeli soldiers prohibited the medical staff from reaching the body and kept the journalists away from the scene, the witnesses added.

They said the Israeli army unit had exploded a fake explosive device in order to attract the attention of Ghanam and shot him dead the moment he stepped out of his house. His body was left lying on the ground in front of his house.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian was killed on Tuesday night and three injured in the southern Gaza town of Rafah as the Israeli troops shelled the al Salam neighborhood in the town near the border with Egypt, Palestinian medics said.

Samir al Khawaja, 29, was shot in the head and died immediately while three other residents were injured, among them a 10-year-old boy who is in serious condition.

Ali Musa, chief of emergency at the Rafah Hospital said the Israeli soldiers stationed on the borderline opened fire at the Palestinian houses in the neighborhood.

The Israeli army also reinforced its presence in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, sending more tanks, bulldozers and armored vehicles to the area, according to the residents. Earlier on Tuesday, a Thai worker was killed and two others were injured after a mortar shell fired by Palestinian militants hit a green house in the Gush Katif settlement, west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2004)