Israel continued large-scale arrests of Palestinians Monday, including many Hamas members, as it searched for three Israelis suspected to have been kidnapped in the West Bank, dpa reported. A 20-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli soldiers in a refugee camp on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah during a confrontation with protesters, according to medics and witnesses. It is the first death in clashes since the Israeli youths went missing Thursday near a settlement bloc on the southern West Bank, north of Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the territory. Two other men were reported moderately injured. Israel arrested another 40 people overnight, bringing the number of Palestinians arrested over the last days to 150, a military statement said. Those detained included Palestinian parliament speaker Aziz Dweik, taken from his home in Hebron early Monday, Palestinian security officials said. In Gaza, three Palestinians were injured, including a 3-year-old child, when Israeli helicopters gunship carried out six successive airstrikes on training facilities, medics and witnesses said. The airstrikes came after rockets were launched late Sunday toward the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.
