JERUSALEM: Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian on Monday, saying he tried to stab officers during a raid in East Jerusalem.
Officers were conducting a search for illegal weapons in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, police said. When officers approached the house, the man, armed with a knife, attempted to stab them, police said. They shot the suspect and he was later pronounced dead, police said.
Ibrahim al-Shaham, the man’s father, told reporters that the soldiers knocked on the door of their house at 3:30 a.m. and then used explosives to blow up the door of the house. Al-Shaham said police fired three bullets, one of which hit his son, Mohammed, 21, in the head. Al-Shaham said her son was bleeding on the floor of the house as police searched the apartment.
He denied that his son tried to stab the officers and said police found no weapons in the house.
Human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of frequently using excessive force against Palestinians, without being investigated or held accountable.
The incident came a day after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a bus outside Jerusalem’s Old City, injuring eight people, including US citizens.
United States State Department condemned the Jerusalem attack on Sunday night and said at least five of the victims were US citizens. “We remain in close contact with our Israeli partners and stand firmly with them in the face of this attack,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
The violence in Jerusalem followed a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that was reached last week ended three days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza that left at least 49 Palestinians dead, including 17 children and 14 militants.
A day after the ceasefire ended the worst round of fighting in Gaza in more than a year, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and injured dozens in a firefight that broke out during an arrest raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Officers were conducting a search for illegal weapons in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, police said. When officers approached the house, the man, armed with a knife, attempted to stab them, police said. They shot the suspect and he was later pronounced dead, police said.
Ibrahim al-Shaham, the man’s father, told reporters that the soldiers knocked on the door of their house at 3:30 a.m. and then used explosives to blow up the door of the house. Al-Shaham said police fired three bullets, one of which hit his son, Mohammed, 21, in the head. Al-Shaham said her son was bleeding on the floor of the house as police searched the apartment.
He denied that his son tried to stab the officers and said police found no weapons in the house.
Human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of frequently using excessive force against Palestinians, without being investigated or held accountable.
The incident came a day after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a bus outside Jerusalem’s Old City, injuring eight people, including US citizens.
United States State Department condemned the Jerusalem attack on Sunday night and said at least five of the victims were US citizens. “We remain in close contact with our Israeli partners and stand firmly with them in the face of this attack,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
The violence in Jerusalem followed a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that was reached last week ended three days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza that left at least 49 Palestinians dead, including 17 children and 14 militants.
A day after the ceasefire ended the worst round of fighting in Gaza in more than a year, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and injured dozens in a firefight that broke out during an arrest raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
