Israeli occupation troops killed a member of the resistance Hamas group and arrested another early Wednesday in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian and Israeli officials said. Palestinian security officials said Ibrahim Abu Hawash, 33, a Hamas fugitive, was killed when Israeli occupation troops raided a building he was in around 2 a.m.

The occupation army said occupation troops shot and killed Abu Hawash when they saw him trying to escape while carrying an Uzi submachine gun.

Another Hamas activist in the apartment was arrested, the occupation army said. An assault rifle, two handguns and ammunition were found in the apartment, along with bomb-making equipment, the occupation army said.

Darwish Abu Samra, the owner of the building where Abu Hawash had apparently been living in an apartment under construction, said occupation troops detained his five sons and ransacked apartments in the building during searches after Abu Hawash was killed.

During the last month the occupation army has arrested 100 wanted resistance men in Nablus, six of them senior officials, and 10 would-be resistance bombers, the occupation army said in a statement.

Israel Jails Senior Palestinian Activist for Life

An Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian to seven life terms in prison on Tuesday in a verdict that could add ammunition to Israel's case against Marwan Barghouthi, a leader of the revolt against occupation.

The Jerusalem District Court found that Nasser Abu Hamid received arms and funding from Barghouthi for the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a resistance group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fata faction.

Barghouthi, a leader of Fatah in the West Bank, was detained by Israeli occupation soldiers in the West Bank in April and is on trial in Israel on murder charges related to the deaths of 26 Israelis. He has denied involvement in attacks. In its verdict, the court said Abu Hamid acknowledged helping to form the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has killed dozens of Israelis during the uprising for statehood, and orchestrating numerous shooting, bombing and resistance attacks.

Abu Hamid, described by Israeli authorities as a close aide to Barghouthi, was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences plus an additional 50 years for what the court said was his involvement in the killing of seven Israelis.

"I have no regrets...The Palestinians have a legitimate right to fight against (Israeli) occupation. I fought," Abu Hamid told reporters in the courtroom.

Among the Israelis killed in attacks which the court linked to Abu Hamid were the son and daughter-in-law of the late anti-Arab rabbi, Meir Kahane. Benjamin Kahane and his wife Talia, Jewish settlers, were killed in a West Bank shooting two years ago.

Meir Kahane, a U.S.-born ultranationalist rabbi who advocated the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip , was assassinated by an Egyptian Islamist in New York in 1990.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian relative kisses the body of Ibrahim Abu Hawash, a member of Hamas's Izz-el-Deen al-Qassam military wing wanted by Israel, during his funeral in the West Bank city of Nablus, December 25, 2002.. Photo by Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters
- Dec 25 8:01 AM ET