A Romanian worker was shot dead in the West Bank today less than a day after armed Palestinian factions said they would observe a temporary truce.
The Israeli military said the victim was involved in road construction by Israel near the West Bank village of Yabed. The worker was driving in a truck when he was shot in the head.
The ceasefire was signed by the three largest Palestinian factions - Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah. However, one branch of a Fatah-affiliated militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, has said it would not recognise the truce.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militia affiliated with President Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the shooting.
"We do not agree with the ceasefire," a group of militiamen from the West Bank town of Jenin said in a statement. "This is our first action. This is the beginning".
The militia consists of bands of gunmen who do not recognise a central authority - unlike the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the other signatories to the three-month truce.
AP