Israeli occupation forces have killed a Palestinian member of the national guard in Khan Younis and wounded another Palestinians inside the Church of Nativity in Bethlem. The wounded man died later in hospital. At the same time, occupation forces raided the West Bank city of Tulkarm before dawn and combed through several homes in the town, witnesses said. No arrests or fighting were reported in the raid, which lasted a few hours. (Read photo caption).

Such raids have become common since Israel wound down its large-scale offensive against Palestinian towns in the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian security officer was shot dead in an Israeli incursion into Khan Younis refugee camp, witnesses and hospital officials said. Israeli occupation sources said they knew nothing of the alleged incursion but soldiers had killed a presumed infiltrator into a nearby Jewish settlement.

In Bethlehem, efforts to ease a month-old standoff at the Israeli-besieged Church of the Nativity foundered when a deal to bring food to people inside the shrine fell through.

Sources in the church said a Palestinian civilian inside was wounded on Saturday by Israeli gunfire while passing through a part of the compound frequented by gunmen holed up inside. The wounded man died later in hospital.

An occupation army spokesman claimed that the dead Palestinian was a wanted militant.

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Talks in Bethlehem to end Israel's two-month siege of the Church of the Nativity have broken down, according to the city's mayor. Five rounds of talks have failed to produce an agreement to end the standoff at the church, where about 170 Palestinians are surrounded by Israeli troops.