Israeli Troops Kill Ten Palestinians in West Bank

The victims of the Nablus operation, four of whom were members of a group loyal to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, were shot dead after troops had encircled a house in the Old City area.

Around 20 jeeps and tanks took part in the operation, with aerial cover from an Israeli helicopter.

The young girl, Maram al-Nahleh, was hit by gunfire when she went out of her house as ambulances arrived, medics and relatives said.

"She was watching the ambulances taking away the bodies when soldiers posted on the roof of a house shot at her, hitting her in the face," the girl’s grandmother, Mouyassar Al-Nahleh, told AFP.

After news of the killings began to filter through the city, clashes broke out between the soldiers and groups of stone-throwers.

Ten Palestinians were wounded during the clashes, including a 14-year-old boy who was in a serious condition in hospital, medics said.

Four more Al-Aqsa Brigades fighters were killed several hours later in a raid by Israeli special forces in the flashpoint town of Jenin.