OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 12 October — The body of a Hamas activist was found in a field near the northern West Bank city of Nablus yesterday morning possibly assassinated by Israeli troops, reports said.

Palestinian sources said Hani Rawajbeh, 22, appeared to have been killed in an explosion but the exact circumstances of his death were still being investigated.

They said Rawajbeh had been wanted by the Israeli Army and that it was possible he was killed by an Israeli Army shell.

Palestinian witnesses said they had heard sounds of shelling or grenades in the area during the night.

The Israeli Army, however, denied having fired any shells in the area, Israel Radio reported.

Rawajbeh was from the same village as Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, a senior leader of Hamas’ military wing Ezadeen Al-Qassem, and Palestinian sources said Rawajbeh had been close to Abu Hanoud.

A statement by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office, which oversees Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency, stopped short of saying that Israeli forces had killed Rawajbeh.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expressed anger yesterday at the killing of two protesters earlier this week while Palestinian police were trying to disperse a demonstration in support of Osama Bin Laden.

Ordinary Palestinians and members of national and other factions said if Palestinian President Yasser Arafat failed to punish policemen they regard as responsible for the deadly shootings, Monday’s confrontations could recur.

“This is very risky. If the people take the law into their own hands, this will create a situation of chaos,” Palestinian parliamentarian Ziah Abu Amr told Reuters.

Meanwhile, despite the tense calm that followed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s crackdown on other Palestinian factions this week, there were few signs of renewed peace talks with Israel yesterday, as the United States focused all its attention on its air campaign in Afghanistan. Scattered incidents have punctured the relative peace that came after Palestinian police fought running street battles with students and protesters in Gaza City Monday.