The Palestinian bell ringer who worked at the church over the traditional site of Jesus' birth was shot and killed Thursday, the latest victim in a Palestinian-Israeli standoff. Samir Ibrahim Salman, a 45-year-old Christian and dedicated worker who kept mainly to himself, died while walking to his job. At dawn Thursday, Salman, who also cleaned the building, set out for work as he had virtually every day of his adult life. He had hoped to keep ringing the bells, even as the church became the center of the siege. It was not clear who fired the shots. Salman was hit in the chest. He slumped into a street just a few steps from the church door. He died there. Inside the church, 240 armed Palestinians have been holed up since Tuesday, with Israeli troops closing in and calling on the gunmen to surrender and come out. No one has done so.
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