GAZA, July 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli troops operating in the northern Gaza Strip village of Beit Hanoun shot dead a Palestinian young man on Sunday , Palestinian medics reported.

    They said that Israeli army opened fire and killed Hassan Mansour, 18, from the southern Gaza village of Zawayda, adding thathe was gathering with a group of young men in the outskirts of BeitHanoun.

    The death of Mansour raised the death toll in the Palestinian territories within the last 24 hours to eight, including three of them from Beit Hanoun, two from the West Bank city of Nablus, two from Gaza and one from Hebron.

    The Israeli troops are operating in the village of Beit Hanoun for the seventh consecutive day.

    Israeli army has escalated its military operations in northern Gaza and razed wide areas of cultivated lands with fruitful trees, claiming that the aim is to prevent Palestinian militants from firing homemade Qassam rockets at southern Israel. Enditem