Israeli occupation troops killed two Palestinians in separate clashes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip early Wednesday and demolished the home of a suspected resistance activist, the occupation army and witnesses said In the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, occupation troops killed a Palestinian taxi driver who was watching Israeli tanks moving through the area when he was shot, Palestinian witnesses said. The occupation army said its soldiers were removing bushes used by Palestinian activists as cover when firing on troops. Resistance men attacked the occupation force with anti-tank missiles, gunfire and grenades and occupation soldiers returned fire.

In the West Bank village of Seide, Israeli occupation troops demolished a two-story house belonging to a suspected activist. In the morning, residents went to look at the rubble and occupation troops in the house fired to disperse the onlookers, killing 17-year-old Ahmed Ajaj, who was chanting "Allahu Akbar" - God is great - with the rest of the crowd, Palestinian witnesses said.

The occupation troops had blown up a house belonging to Osama Ashkar, an activist with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Twelve people lived in the house, Palestinian officials said.

Ashkar was responsible for dispatching a resistance man who killed five people, in a shooting rampage on an Israeli kibbutz, the occupation army claimed. He also planned and provided weapons for a separate attack on an internationally illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank in which three Israelis were killed, according to an occupation army report.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli soldier handcuffs 15-year-old Palestinian Ziad Shalouti after he was taken from his house and arrested in the West Bank town of Hebron Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2003. The boy was arrested after he tried to prevent Israeli occupation army soldiers from entering his house witnesses said. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukh