Hebron, — Israeli forces in Hebron (Al-Khalil) shot dead an elderly Palestinian civilians on Friday (07/01/2011), the incidence of false identification when they seek a Hamas prisoner who was released a day earlier.

The Israeli military expressed regret for the killings. A spokesman admitted that the 67-year-old man is innocent civilians who live in the same house occupied by members of Hamas.

Several witnesses and Palestinian security officials said the shooting took place at an apartment building in central Hebron as troops search for one of five prisoners released from city jail on Thursday. The death toll is Omar Kawasme. Members of his family said that he was the uncle of Wael al-Bitar, who hunted Israel Hamas prisoners.

In a statement to AFP, Rajaeh Kawasme, son of the victim was killed, said the troops entered the house when his mother was praying and his father slept. Force lock her in another room, then shot his father in his bed. "They killed him in cold blood with 13 bullets in his head, even without checking their credentials," he told AFP. "After killing him, they asked for his ID card."

"They think Bitar lived in this apartment so they shot him without making sure their credentials," said the victim's son. Israeli forces admitted that Kawasme was killed by mistake forces seeking Bitar, a member of the armed wing of Hamas, who said they were hunted for their involvement in a number of suicide bomb attacks.

The military said the five detainees had been arrested again on Thursday night that Hamas, including Bitar, who allegedly involved in planning suicide attacks, including that killed an Israeli woman and wounded 10 people in the town of Dimona, southern Israel, in 2008.

Murder before dawn on Friday sparked anger Hamas movement that rules Gaza and a Palestinian spokesman blamed the Government led by President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. "Hamas considers the Palestinian Authority responsible, together with the occupation forces, for this crime," said Sami Abu Zuhri told a news conference.

Group Hamas controls the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after defeating Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a deadly battle for a few days. Since then the impoverished coastal territory dibloklade Israel. Palestine had become two separate unitary areas, namely the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and West Bank under Abbas's government.