Israeli occupation troops have shot dead a Palestinian resistance fighter in a raid in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus.

An Israeli military source said soldiers shot the man, identified as a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, when he opened fire on them while they were trying to arrest him in the Balata camp on Thursday.

Ala Sanakra, a resistance leader in the camp, said Israeli forces fired first, sparking a gun battle with al-Aqsa fighters.

It was Israel's first killing of a resistance fighter in more than month. Israeli troops killed three Palestinian youths in disputed circumstances in Gaza and fighters retaliated by firing mortars at Jewish settlements.

Abbas orders security shake-up

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has ordered all Palestinian security services to be placed under the authority of the National Security Forces, the Interior Ministry, and the General Intelligence Agency.

The order expands the responsibilities of Interior Minister Nasir Yusuf, who was named by Abbas as his security chief earlier this year.

Yusuf continues to oversee his ministry as well as the National Security Forces, which includes elite commando units and military intelligence.

It was not immediately known who would be in charge of General Intelligence.

Abbas' decision on Thursday is seen as a step towards meeting a key Israeli and US demand for reform.

The US and Israel have long demanded the unification of the Palestinian security services as a condition for renewing peace negotiations.

More than a dozen Palestinian security organisations have long operated as independent fiefdoms, contributing to rising lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

PHOTO CAPTION

Family members mourn next to the body of Ibrahim Smeri, 23, an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant, during his funeral at the West Bank City Nablus. (AFP (