Israeli army snipers killed a Hamas activist in the West Bank town of Kalkilya today, Palestinian security sources said.
Mr Abdul Rahman Hamad (35) was on the roof of his home a few hundred metres from the Green Line separating the West Bank from Israel when he was shot several times in the head.
Israeli army radio said it was a "targeted" operation, of the type which since November 2000 has killed more than 50 Palestinians accused by Israel of "terrorist'' acts.
It said the hit had been carried out by an elite army unit.
A total of 874 people have now been killed in the year-old intifada, among them 675 Palestinians and 176 Israelis.
Palestinian information minister Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestineradio: "This is a crime and means the Israeli promises for calm are mere lies and we cannot trust them."
The killing was the first targeted liquidation of a suspected Palestinian militant since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on September 26th to shore up a tentative ceasefire arrangement.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, without officially confirming Israeli troops killed Mr Hamad, issued a statement accusing him of having organised the suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub on June 1st that cost 23 lives.
"Israeli security services also gave the Palestinian police information about other planned attacks by this terrorist. He was arrested with two of his lieutenants, then released August 5th by Palestinian police," it said.
"Shortly after his release he resumed preparations for a suicide bombing which was due to be carried out in the coming days," according to the statement
It said Mr Hamad was part of the armed wing of Hamas and been expelled to Lebanon in the 1990s with around 400 Islamic militants before being allowed to return. He had had been arrested by Israeli forces seven times.
Mr Sharon's spokesman Mr Raanan Gissin said: "this terrorist will not be able to kill any more innocent people."
"The Israeli cabinet decided recently, after the terrorist attacks continued, to exercise its right to self-defence and take all the steps necessary whenever we know an attack is about to be committed,'' he said.
Palestinian officials say the targeted killings amount to "state terrorism."
AFP