A Palestinian militant was shot dead by Israeli troops near the West Bank town of Jericho on Wednesday, Palestinian security sources said.

The militant, identified as Mahmoud Shahin, was killed by Israeli troops' gunfire in the Ein al-Sultan refugee camp near Jericho, the sources said.

Palestinian witnesses said that the militant exchanged fire with the Israeli soldiers before being shot dead.

The militant was believed to be a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

The Israeli army said that its troops surrounded a house in the refugee camp and ordered people inside to leave.

The militant then fled the house and was shot, the army added.

Meanwhile, Palestinian witnesses said that Israeli forces stormed the houses of Palestinian Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik, parliament secretary general Mahmoud al-Ramahi and lawmaker Ahmed Mubarak in the West Bank city of Ramallah but failed to find them.

The three are all members of the Palestinian governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Israeli troops have recently intensified arrest raids in the West Bank as a massive ground offensive is underway in the Gaza Strip in a bid to rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants.

Israeli troops have nabbed eight Hamas cabinet ministers and dozens of Hamas lawmakers and officials in a large-scale arrest campaign after launching the Gaza operation in Gaza on June 28.

Source: Xinhua