HIGHLIGHTS: Israelis Kill a Palestinian Near Nablus & a Palestinian Woman Dies of Exhaustion at Abu Holly Crossing in Gaza||Despite a Security Alert, a Palestinian Would-Be Bomber Slips Away after Being Stopped at Ramallah Crossing||STORY: Israeli occupation troops deployed near the West Bank city of Nablus shot and killed Wednesday night a Palestinian near the village of Oserin. (Read photo caption)

According to Israeli press reports, the occupation soldiers spotted the man standing on a hillock, holding an unknown object in his hands. He discarded the object and fled as the soldiers approached him. They opened fire, killing him. The object was later found to be an adz, an agricultural implement.

At the same time, a Palestinian woman, Ghalia Ahmad Al-Shallah, 65, died at the Abu Holly Crossing in Gaza after being kept waiting at the crossing for 7 hours during which she appeared to be suffering from exhaustion. The woman collapsed and died before she was taken to hospital.

WOULD-BE BOMBER SLIPS AWAY

Meanwhile, and despite being alerted well in advance, Israeli security forces failed to apprehend a would-be Palestinian bomber. Israeli Police stopped the would-be bomber who arrived in a taxi, which he was driving himself at the Ramallah crossing, north of Jerusalem. Police stopped him and asked for identification. The young man managed to escape after with a bag in his hand believed to be loaded with explosives. Israeli sources said that the security men were not sure whether the man slipped back into Ramallah or whether he managed to slip through the barriers into Jerusalem. Police is combing the area both ways in search of the man.

WOULD-BE BOMBER CHANGES HER MIND

Earlier, Israeli security forces arrested a woman in Bethlehem who was allegedly planning to carry out a bombing in Rishon Letzion, but then changed her mind.

According to Israel Radio, Arin Ahmed, 23, from Beit Sahour, was planning to carry out the attack in Rishon Letzion's pedestrian mall last week. On May 22, a 16-year-old Palestinian blew himself up in Rishon Letzion, killing himself and two Israelis.

The Israelis lifted the curfew in Bethlehem for a few hours Wednesday to allow residents to buy food. For its part, the Palestinian leadership issued a statement denouncing the Israeli incursions, which take place almost nightly.

The statement, distributed by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, charged that Israeli forces are "continuing their aggression ... practicing random arrests and humiliating the citizens and firing on residential areas, killing and wounding many civilians."

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli soldier leads a Palestinian man after his arrest at the closed Kalandia checkpoint at the outskirts of the West Bank town of Ramallah Wednesday, May 29, 2002. The checkpoint has been closed since last Tuesday preventing Palestinians from leaving Ramallah after a security alert in Israel of a possible attack. (AP Photo/Nasser Nass