Hamas claims settler shooting

An Israeli soldier stands guard near the house where a settler was killed

The Palestinian militant group Hamas has said one of its members carried out Friday night's shooting of an Israeli settler in the West Bank.

The settler was killed and his young daughter injured by the teenage gunman, whom soldiers later shot dead.

Hamas said the attack was in response to Israel's assassination of the movement's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, on 22 March.

The Israeli army subsequently made up to 30 arrests in the city of Nablus.

Hamas named the gunman who attacked Avnei Hefetz settlement near the Palestinian town of Tulkarm as Ramzi Fakhri Arda, in a statement sent to AFP news agency.

The 18-year-old was shooting at a house on the settlement when the Israeli man came out to confront him, reports said.

He then shot the man dead and injured his 12-year-old daughter.

Shortly after the incident, the Israeli army raided Nablus in an operation sources told AFP was aimed at undermining the structure of Hamas in the city.

Army sources said 26 people had been arrested. Palestinian security sources put the number at 30.