Palestinian Witnesses said a special Israeli army unit raided the government hospital in the West Bank city of Ramallah, shooting dead one of the four security guards.

The Israeli troops killed Sami Shamali and arrested the three others, they added.

Medics said one of the detained guards was shot in the leg, but Israeli soldiers would not allow him to receive medical treatment.

The killing brought the number of slain Palestinians in the day to eight, sparking Palestinian criticism of an Israeli military escalation.

An Israeli special unit killed an Hamas militant and a Palestinian bystander in Ramallah on an earlier occasion.

Palestinian security sources said the Israeli army had shot dead five other Palestinians early in the morning in Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus and Gaza.

(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2002)