Israeli troops killed a Hamas fighter Friday during an arrest raid in the West Bank, where violence has increased since the start of new Mideast peace talks this month. The Islamic group, which killed four Israeli settlers in a Sept. 1 shooting just as the talks were getting under way, threatened to avenge the militant's death. Hamas opposes the peace talks and has threatened to use violence to derail them. Israel's military said soldiers were trying to arrest Iyad Abu Shilbaya, 37, early Friday in the town of Tulkarem when he ran at them, ignoring orders to halt. The military said troops feared he had a weapon and shot him. Abu Shilbaya had served time in Israeli jails in the past and was wanted for “recent activity,” the military said. No additional details were provided. The man's brother, Moetasim Abu Shilbaya, said troops burst into his brother's house around 3 a.m. and killed him in his bedroom. A floor mat in the room and the bed were stained with blood. Abu Shilbaya called the killing an “assassination.” He said his brother was a Hamas political activist, not an armed militant. But a Hamas military spokesman in Gaza, Abu Obeida, confirmed the man was a member of the group's armed wing. “The blood of our martyr will be a curse that will follow the occupation and the traitors,” he said. The word traitors referred to Hamas' rivals in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which has ruled only the West Bank since losing control of the other Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, to Hamas militants in 2007. In the past, the West Bank's Palestinian leadership has criticized Israel for carrying out arrest raids in Palestinian cities, saying those actions undermine its own authority. Israel says Palestinian forces are still unable to fully assume control for security.
