RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli troops shot dead a mentally ill Palestinian who approached them in a West Bank refugee camp Sunday, the army said, while another Palestinian was killed in clashes in the city of Ramallah.
Sunday's deaths brought to four the number of Palestinians killed since Israel launched its most extensive military operation in the West Bank in years after the abduction of three Israeli teens June 12.
Israel has arrested more than 350 Palestinians, most affiliated with the Islamic militant Hamas, and raided some 1,600 locations. Israel has blamed the kidnappings on Hamas, which has praised the act but not claimed responsibility.
The sweeps have led to growing confrontations after years of relative calm. Increasingly, Israeli troops entering towns and refugee camps are met by crowds of Palestinian stone-throwers.
Eleven human rights groups urged the Israeli military Sunday to refrain from collective punishment of the Palestinian population.
"Overall, the measures adopted and their extent do not seem to serve a military need that can justify the damage they have caused," they wrote.
There were also signs of growing Palestinian anger at Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has defended his decision to continue security coordination with Israel, including in the search for the teens.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he has "unequivocal proof" of Hamas involvement. He said he is sharing this evidence with several countries and will make it public soon.
Abbas, meanwhile, said he has "no credible information" that Hamas was involved.
"When Netanyahu has such information, he needs to update me and we will take care of the matter according to our own laws," he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In Ramallah, Israeli troops entered the downtown area about 2 a.m. Sunday, searching offices in two commercial buildings.
Several hundred Palestinians threw stones and flower pots at soldiers who fired live bullets and rubber-coated steel pellets, said Issam Rimawi, a photographer for a local newspaper.
After the soldiers withdrew, dozens of protesters hurled stones at a nearby Palestinian police station and smashed windows of parked cars, said Rimawi and a protester, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid repercussions from the authorities.
Palestinian troops fired live rounds, the two witnesses said.
After the clashes, the body of Mohammed Ismail, 31, was found on a rooftop opposite the police station, they said.
Saber Aloul, a Palestinian forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy and said Ismail was killed by an M-16 bullet in the shoulder. Palestinian forces do not use M-16s, said a spokesman, Adnan Damiri.
The Israeli military, which is known to use M-16s, had no comment.
In a separate incident Sunday, 27-year-old Ahmed Saoud was killed by Israeli troops as he walked to a mosque for dawn prayers in the Al-Ein refugee camp, said his father, Assad. The elder Saoud said his son suffered from mental illness.
Israeli warplanes bombed a series of targets inside Syria early today, the Israeli military said, in response to a cross-border attack that killed an Israeli teenager the previous day.
In all, Israel said it struck nine military targets inside Syria, and "direct hits were confirmed." The targets were located near the site of Sunday's violence in the Golan Heights and included a regional military command center and unspecified "launching positions."
In Sunday's attack, an Israeli civilian vehicle was struck by forces in Syria as it drove in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. A teenage boy was killed, and two other people were wounded. The Israeli vehicle was delivering water as it was doing contract work for Israel's Defense Ministry.
Information for this article was contributed by Daniel Estrin and Josef Federman of The Associated Press.
A Section on 06/23/2014