Israeli troops on Monday hunted for a suspected Palestinian gunman who shot a soldier dead in Hebron, days after another Palestinian killed a soldier in a separate incident.

The killings have cast a pall over peace talks relaunched last month after a three-year hiatus, with Israeli ministers calling on the government to reconsider its decision to negotiate with the Palestinians.

The United States on Sunday condemned the killings of two Israeli soldiers in separate incidents on the West Bank.

"Such violence and terror are unacceptable," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

An Israeli soldier died after being hit by gunfire in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Sunday, the Israeli army said.

"An IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldier was killed from gunfire fired this evening at an army force in Hebron," a statement from the military read.

Israel on Sunday answered EU anger over the confiscation of humanitarian aid for Palestinians with accusations diplomats at the scene defied a court order and one struck a policeman.

"Diplomats are sent by their governments to be a bridge and not act as provocateurs," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Kenyan troops launched an assault Sunday to end a terrifying siege by Somali militants holding hostages inside a shopping mall, with police warning the death toll of 68 could rise sharply.

Shortly after night fell with the siege well into its second day, teams backed by Israeli agents moved in to end the bloodbath at the upmarket Westgate complex.

Israel on Sunday permitted delivery of cement and steel for use by the private sector into the Gaza Strip for the first time since 2007, a Palestinian official said.

"Israel allowed today for the first time in six years, the entry of 40 trucks filled with gravel, 20 trucks loaded with cement and 10 with steel for the private sector in Gaza" Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian official in charge of Gaza supplies, said in a statement.

Iran paraded 30 missiles with a nominal range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) Sunday, the first time it had displayed so many with the theoretical capacity to hit Israeli targets.

Iran displayed 12 Sejil and 18 Ghadr missiles at the annual parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Brussels has demanded an explanation from Israel following the confiscation of humanitarian aid meant for Palestinians in the West Bank, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's spokesman said Saturday.

"The EU deplores the confiscation of humanitarian aid yesterday by Israeli security forces," Michael Mann said in a statement.

A Palestinian kidnapped and murdered an Israeli soldier hoping to exchange the body for his brother, jailed in the Jewish state since 2003, officials said on Saturday.

An army spokesman said the soldier "was kidnapped and killed by a Palestinian near Qalqiliya yesterday (Friday) and his body was found" on Saturday morning.

Israeli troops on Friday manhandled a group of European diplomats as they tried to hand out tents to Palestinian Bedouins whose West Bank homes were destroyed by the army.

The troops used force to disperse the diplomats who had accompanied aid workers to the village of Makhul in the Jordan Valley, an Agence France Presse photographer said.