Human rights groups have slammed the Israeli practice of destroying the family homes of Palestinian activists as collective punishment and illegal

NABLUS, West Bank, February 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian policeman in the West Bank and an elderly woman was killed by flying debris when Israeli troops blew up the house of a slain activist in overnight raids, security officials said Wednesday, February 5.

Policeman Reda Ghanen, 20, was killed as he was leaving a police station that had been surrounded by Israeli soldiers during an Israeli incursion into Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, on the border with Israel, Palestinian officials said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A second policeman was injured in the shooting, the security officials said.

Israeli military radio said the soldiers opened fire at two Palestinians whom they wanted to arrest and who were “trying to escape”.

In the central Gaza Strip, a 65-year-old woman was killed when the army blew up the neighboring house of a Palestinian activist, sending debris flying.

Kamla Abu Said was hit in the head by a chunk of stone as army sappers blew up the house of her husband's late son in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, Palestinian medical and security sources said. Her body was found several hours later.

The demolition occurred during a raid lasting several hours overnight by around a dozen Israeli armored vehicles protected by two helicopters into Al-Maghazi refugee camp.

Human rights groups have slammed the Israeli practice of destroying the family homes of Palestinian activists as collective punishment and illegal. Israel has destroyed some 140 Palestinian houses till now leaving their residents homeless.

More Incursions

Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security forces said a dozen Israeli armored vehicles protected by two helicopters made an incursion lasting several hours overnight into Al-Maghazi refugee camp.

During the raid into the central Gaza camp, the helicopter gunships opened fire as sappers destroyed the house of Baher Abu Said, a member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

Initial reports said the helicopters had destroyed the house, but security forces later specified they had provided cover for the army engineers who dynamited it.

Three of the activist's brothers were arrested, the sources said.

An army spokesman claimed Abu Said was behind an attack on a Jewish settlement which left two Israeli soldiers dead on November 18, 2000.

The Fatah activist was killed by soldiers in a subsequent manhunt. The army spokesman said the troops had later pulled out of Al-Maghazi.

The latest deaths took to 2,920 the number of people killed since the September 2000 Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation, including 2,177 Palestinians and 687 Israelis.

In addition, the army spokesman said 15 wanted Palestinians were arrested on suspicion of "terrorist activities" in more night raids in the West Bank, which has been almost entirely re-occupied since June 2002.