A senior U.N. relief worker was shot dead Friday in a Palestinian refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jenin. It appears the man, a foreign national, was killed during clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen.
A cameraman for the Reuters news agency saw the body of the man after a gun-battle broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
He was identified as Ian Hook, who headed a U.N. project to rebuild homes in the battle-scarred Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin.
A spokesman for the UNWRA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said the 50-year-old relief worker was sitting in his office in a small compound in the camp, when the fighting erupted.
At the time, Israeli soldiers had surrounded the hideout in the camp of wanted Islamic Jihad leader, Abdullah Wahsh, and demanded that he surrender.
Palestinian gunmen began shooting at the Israeli troops, who returned fire.
The U.N. spokesman says several bullets hit Mr. Hook's office. He was taken away in an ambulance for treatment but was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.