Fresh shooting has broken out at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It happened just as Israeli and Palestinian officials were about to start another round of talks on ending the stand-off at the Christian shrine, where Israeli forces have besieged armed Palestinians for three weeks. 

Earlier, Israeli army snipers wounded a Palestinian man in the church. He was evacuated to a hospital. Two Palestinian policeman who said they are sick left the church and surrendered to Israeli forces. 

About 200 people, including gunmen and church workers, have been under siege in the church since April 2. Israel says the gunmen must either surrender and stand trial in Israel or go into exile outside the territories. Palestinians reject that and instead suggest the wanted men be escorted to the Gaza Strip. 

Elsewhere, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, one of them a local leader of Fatah, during a raid at a West Bank village near Hebron. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian teenagers who, the army says, were armed and trying to enter a Jewish settlement. Palestinians say the victims were 13 and 14-year-old schoolboys. Elsewhere in Gaza, three Palestinians were killed by an explosion in a house in the Jabalya refugee camp. 

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP. 

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