ISRAELI occupation troops shot dead a young Palestinian with learning difficulties today as he walked to the mosque for dawn prayers in the West Bank Al-Ein refugee camp.

Ahmed Saoud’s father Assad said that his son suffered from mental illness.

The occupying army used its customary formulations of a man approaching soldiers in a threatening manner and of warning shots being fired before he was killed.

Another Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces in Ramallah when youngsters threw stones at them in protest at their rampage through the West Bank in response to three young Israelis going missing near Hebron on June 12.

The killing of Mohammed Ismail, aged 31, brings the number of Palestinian fatalities during this latest Israeli incursion to four.

The Israeli army said that it had seized six Palestinians overnight, bringing the total held in the past week to over 350.

It also raided six buildings affiliated with Hamas civilian institutions and “confiscated” funds from 42 sites it claimed were connected to resistance activity.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he has “unequivocal proof” of Hamas involvement, was sharing this evidence with several countries and will make it public soon.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he has “no credible information” that Hamas orchestrated the kidnapping.

“When Netanyahu has such information, he needs to update me and we will take care of the matter according to our own laws,” he added.

Tel Aviv claims that its troops are operating in the West Bank to find its citizens and to dismantle Hamas networks in the occupied zone.

Young Palestinian stone-throwers clashed with Palestinian police after the Israelis moved on, in protest at Mr Abbas’s decision to continue security co-ordination with Israel, including in the search for the missing teenagers.

Dozens hurled stones at a Palestinian police station and smashed windows of parked cars.

They marched through Ramallah chanting: “Why, why security co-ordination? We get hit once by the Palestinian Authority and once by the Israeli army.”

Israel said that it had carried out air strikes on four Gaza Strip sites yesterday following rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.