Israeli troops, Palestinians in Hebron standoff

An Israeli soldier tries to put out a fire Wednesday in front of Palestinian security headquarters in Hebron.

HEBRON, West Bank (CNN) -- Israeli soldiers and Palestinians holed up in the Palestinian security headquarters in Hebron, West Bank, were involved in a tense standoff Wednesday.

Palestinian security sources said one of eight Palestinians trapped inside the building had come out and surrendered to Israeli soldiers. The sources said the other seven remained inside the building.

The Israel Defense Forces said no one had surrendered. The IDF said the men were wanted activists in the Fatah militias. Fatah is the mainstream faction and Palestinian nationalist movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization. It is dedicated to the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

Palestinian sources said the Israelis brought families of the men to the building in the hope the men could be persuaded to give up and that the incident began when Israeli troops opened fire on the building with machine guns.

The IDF said its soldiers responded to gunfire and sporadic fire was still coming from the building.

Israel increased its military presence in the West Bank last week after terror attacks -- two suicide bombings and an attack on a family in their home -- that left 31 Israelis dead.

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Israeli troops seized control of Hebron on Tuesday and imposed a curfew on the city. Hebron is the seventh West Bank city now under Israeli control.

In other developments, Palestinian sources said Israeli soldiers arrested a Hamas militant, Nizar Ramadan, at Hebron. Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization, has been labeled by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and well as attacks against the Israeli military.

Also, the Israeli army was checking a report by the Palestine Red Crescent Society that Israel troops on patrol in the Jenin refugee camp killed a boy. There were conflicting reports of the child's age. The Red Crescent said he was 7, but Palestinian security sources said he was 6. The Red Crescent, which runs an ambulance service in the area, said the youth's father also was injured.

Israeli military sources said while an investigation is continuing, it appeared the Israeli soldiers encountered a group of people moving toward them. The soldiers warned the group a number of times not to approach, the sources said, and used "methods" to disperse them when they did not respond to the warnings.

Palestinian security sources said the incident occurred when a group of children started throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers who then opened fire.