国际英语新闻:Israeli army's killing of 2 civilians outrages Palestinians

RAMALLAH, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army's killing of two Palestinians in the West Bank in less than 24 hours outraged the Palestinians, who on Thursday called for immediate international intervention.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) condemned on Thursday the Israeli army killing of two Palestinian citizens in the West Bank in less than 24 hours.

Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesman of President Mahmoud Abbas, said in an official statement that the aim of such violent by Israeli army is to create a tensed atmosphere in the area.

"These practices are a message to the international community," said Abu Rdineh, who called on Israel to immediately stop these measures.

Earlier on Thursday, a 53-year-old Palestinian father was shot and killed by Israeli troops' gunfire in the village of Beit Ommar near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

A witness said that the Israeli army forces stormed the house of Fallah Abu Marreya to arrest his son Mohamed. A gunshot hit the father's chest and killed him, the witness said, adding that Mohamed was critically wounded.

"The man died while he was trying to rescue his wounded son," Yousef Abu Marreya, the Palestinian coordinator in the Palestinian popular committee in southern West Bank, told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, Israeli public radio confirmed that a man was killed and another was injured when a soldier opened fire to disperse a group of Palestinian stone throwers in the village.

The radio, which quoted senior Israeli army sources, reported that the Israeli army forces were attacked while conducting a search into one of the houses in the village to arrest the wanted Palestinians.

The sources said when the soldiers left the house, they were showered with stones, adding that when the life of the soldiers was in danger, they opened fire.

Abu Marreya is the second Palestinian shot dead by Israeli soldiers' gunfire in the West Bank.

On Wednesday morning, the 21-year-old was shot dead in a village near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, according to local medical sources.

Reyad al-Malki, Palestinian minister of foreign affairs, told Palestinian Radio on Thursday that what Israel does in the West Bank against the Palestinians "is a dangerous escalation," adding that "the Israelis are killing our people in cold blood."

Over the past several years, the Israeli army has been conducting daily raids and arrests in the West Bank. The Israeli army said on Thursday it arrested six suspects in the West Bank, including two Hamas activists.

Meanwhile, Hamas and Islamic Jihad said on Thursday in a joint statement that "the Israeli occupation is fully responsible for the killing of Abu Marreya near Hebron in a cold blood."

The Palestinian left-wing groups, the Popular Front and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on Thursday also called for the international intervention to "stop the Israeli occupations' crimes against our people."