REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JENIN - Israeli forces shot three Palestinian militants dead on Saturday in a raid on a home in the occupied West Bank to capture a wanted Hamas Islamist militant, Israeli military and Palestinian officials said.
The Palestinian Authority denounced the violence that it said threatened US-brokered peace talks ahead of a looming April deadline set by Secretary of State John Kerry. Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urged Washington to take steps "to prevent a collapse" of negotiations.
Palestinians fired guns into the air at the men's' funeral in the West Bank town of Jenin, scene of the clashes. Flags from their armed groups draped their coffins and thousands of mourners shouted calls for revenge and chanted against Abbas's involvement in talks with Israel.
"Where are you Abbas? They killed us while you watched," was one of the chants heard.
The Israeli military said its forces raided a home in a refugee camp in Jenin where they shot and killed a Hamas member, Hamza Abu Alhija (24 years) after he opened fire. Two Israeli troops were wounded when he shot at them, they said.
Israeli forces killed two other Palestinians as they confronted protesters throwing petrol bombs and rocks at them during the raid to capture Alhija, wanted as a suspect for plotting shootings against Israelis, the military said.
News of the killings ignited new concern for the fate of Israeli-Palestinian talks for Palestinian statehood in territory captured in a 1967 war, already beset by a crisis over Israel's balking at freeing prisoners Abbas wants released by the month's end under an earlier Israeli commitment. The Palestinian Negotiation Affairs Department says that including Saturday's incident, Israeli forces have killed at least 60 Palestinians and injured almost 900 since the resumption of negotiations last July.