Palestinian Killed in Israeli Sweep of West Bank City

JERUSALEM, Feb. 26 — Israeli troops searched for militants and weapons in the West Bank city of Nablus for a third day Monday, going door to door and periodically clashing with gunmen and stone-throwing youths.

One Palestinian man was killed and his son was wounded, Palestinians said, the first fatality since Israel began the operation on Saturday through the warren of homes and shops in the casbah area of central Nablus.

The Israeli troops, in dozens of jeeps and armored vehicles, have placed the neighborhood under curfew and blocked off the surrounding streets with concrete blocks while they conducted an open-ended search.

The Israeli operation has kept tens of thousands of residents confined to their homes.

“The operation will carry on until we achieve our main mission,” said Brig. Gen. Yair Golan, the commander of forces in the city.

Over the past year, more attempted attacks against Israel have originated in Nablus than in any other West Bank city, the general said.

The Israeli military said Monday that soldiers had surrounded a house after they received reports that gunmen were inside.

When two men from the house were seen climbing onto the roof, the soldiers fired, killing one and wounding the other, the military said.

Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials identified the dead man as Anan al-Tibi, who was in his 40s, and said the man who was wounded was his son.

Palestinian medical workers said Israeli troops had stationed themselves outside the city’s three main hospitals and were checking ambulances when they arrive to see if they contained suspected militants.

“The doctors keep asking the army to move back from the hospital entrance,” said Ran Goldstein, a spokesman for Physicians for Human Rights/Israel, a group that is monitoring events in Nablus. “The soldiers might move 10 meters away, but they keep coming back.”

Since Saturday, the Israelis say they have made several arrests and uncovered two bomb-making laboratories. Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank, has been a center for militants since the Palestinian uprising began more than six years ago.

On Sunday, the Israeli military interrupted Palestinian radio and television broadcasts to announce the names of seven wanted militants, and warned residents in the area not to hide them.

On Monday, Israeli authorities also said that they had arrested two Palestinian teenagers in connection with the stabbing death of a Jewish settler on Sunday night near the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin, several miles from Hebron, and that the two confessed. The Israeli settler, Erez Levanon, frequently walked into the woods near his home to pray and meditate, neighbors said.

Also on Monday, the Hamas political leader in exile, Khaled Meshal, arrived in Moscow and praised Russia for its stance on the boycott in Western assistance to the Palestinian government, which is led by Hamas.

“We value Russia’s position toward lifting the blockade from which the Palestinian people suffer,” said Mr. Meshal, who is based in Syria, according to Russia’s RIA news agency.

Russia is part of the so-called quartet of Middle East mediators, which also includes the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

The group has demanded that the Palestinian government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous agreements.

However, unlike the United States and the European Union, which have labeled Hamas a terrorist group and have refused to deal with it, Russia maintains ties with the group.