JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, following what the Israeli army said was a drive-by shooting at a military post.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry said “a citizen was killed, after being shot by the occupation (Israeli forces) near the town of Silwad” in the central West Bank.
The dead man was named as 32-year-old Muhajid Mahmoud Hamed by the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel‘s army said soldiers launched a manhunt after a drive-by shooting targeted a military post next to Ofra, an Israeli settlement south of Silwad.
“During the pursuit, the suspect spotted the soldiers, got out of the vehicle and fired at them. The soldiers responded with live fire and neutralised the assailant,” an army statement said.
An Israeli military spokesman was unable to confirm to AFP that troops had shot dead a Palestinian.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw Israeli forces standing over a body metres (yards) from a white van.
The incident is the latest in a surge of killings in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A US State Department spokesman said Friday that Washington was “deeply concerned by the intensifying violence in the West Bank”.
At least 147 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed so far this year across the West Bank, Israel and the contested city of Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the 1967 Six-Day War.
An estimated 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank in communities considered illegal under international law, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry said “a citizen was killed, after being shot by the occupation (Israeli forces) near the town of Silwad” in the central West Bank.
The dead man was named as 32-year-old Muhajid Mahmoud Hamed by the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel‘s army said soldiers launched a manhunt after a drive-by shooting targeted a military post next to Ofra, an Israeli settlement south of Silwad.
“During the pursuit, the suspect spotted the soldiers, got out of the vehicle and fired at them. The soldiers responded with live fire and neutralised the assailant,” an army statement said.
An Israeli military spokesman was unable to confirm to AFP that troops had shot dead a Palestinian.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw Israeli forces standing over a body metres (yards) from a white van.
The incident is the latest in a surge of killings in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A US State Department spokesman said Friday that Washington was “deeply concerned by the intensifying violence in the West Bank”.
At least 147 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed so far this year across the West Bank, Israel and the contested city of Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the 1967 Six-Day War.
An estimated 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank in communities considered illegal under international law, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians.
