NABLUS, West Bank ? Israeli commandos killed a Hamas bombmaker in a firefight Friday and pulverized the seven-story apartment building in which he had been hiding, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless and prompting charges that soldiers meted out collective punishment.

An Israeli soldier was killed and four were wounded in the battle, which took place after soldiers surrounded the 3-year-old building and ordered residents out. The Israelis said they blew up the structure more than six hours after the fighting ended because they believed some militants might be inside.

Hours later, 8-year-old Bakr Sobah searched through the rubble, looking for his books and school bag. “I have homework in my notebooks. What can I do now?” the boy said. “We had a house here, now we don’t.”

The Hamas explosives expert who was killed, 26-year-old Mohammed Hanbali, was involved in bombings and shootings that killed at least 36 Israelis and wounded hundreds, the army said. Hanbali also recruited members and trained them in making explosives, according to the military.

Friday’s raid in Nablus came as Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas’ fight for political survival intensified.

The Palestinian parliament speaker said Friday he had decided to hold a confidence vote on Abbas, who is distrusted by many Palestinians because he has Israel’s backing and has been further weakened by a power struggle with veteran leader Yasser Arafat.

The vote will likely be next week, said the speaker, Ahmed Qureia, who initially opposed such a showdown.

Abbas has staked his political future on the U.S.-led “road map” peace plan, frozen for the past three weeks because of a flareup in violence and the dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over how to handle the militants.

Abbas refuses to crack down on armed groups, saying he wants to persuade them to halt attacks. Israel says that in this vacuum, it will pursue terror suspects relentlessly.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to destroy the road map. Deadly arrest raids tend to trigger reprisals, including a Hamas bombing that killed 22 people on a Jerusalem bus last month.

“The Israeli government is pursuing a comprehensive war that will ultimately lead to the destruction of the Palestinian Authority, the peace process, and the resumption of the full Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.