Israeli occupation soldiers shot dead a Hamas activist who resisted arrest on Wednesday as Israel tightened restrictions on Palestinians for the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover. The Israeli occupation army said it had taken into custody 24 wanted Palestinians in West Bank operations ahead of the start at sundown of the Jewish festival of freedom marking the biblical exodus from slavery in Egypt. The Israeli occupation army said it was imposing tighter restrictions on Palestinian travel out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the holiday following warnings of attacks planned by militants.

Palestinians call such edicts collective punishment.

Last year, a resistance bomber killed 29 people at an Israeli hotel during the traditional holiday "seder" meal, the deadliest Palestinian attack inside Israel since the start in September 2000 of an uprising for statehood.

In the village of Yatta, near the West Bank city of Hebron, a Hamas activist identified by Palestinian security sources as Hassan Manasra, 35, shot at occupation soldiers who the occupation army said had come to detain him.

"The wanted man shot at them from inside a house where he was holed up. He was hit by return fire and died," an occupation army spokeswoman said.

Hamas, a fundamentalist Islamic group, has carried out dozens of resistance bombings in Israel since the Palestinian revolt began.

The latest Israeli raids followed an upsurge of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday in which three Palestinian militants, an Israeli occupation army officer and two Israeli civilians were killed.

At least 1,994 Palestinians and 732 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinans carry the body of Mazen Freitekh, who was killed during an operation by the Israeli occupation army in the West Bank city of Nablus, April 15, 2003. Three Palestinian resistance men, an Israeli officer and two Israeli civilians were killed in bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that included shootouts at a border freight terminal and an activist hideout. (Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters)