JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said, following what the Israeli military said was a drive-by shooting at a military post.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry said “one citizen was killed, after being shot dead by the occupation (Israeli forces) near the town of Silwad” in the central West Bank.
The dead was named Muhajid, 32 Mahmoud Hamed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Israeli army says soldiers launched a manhunt after a gunfight targeted a military post next to Ofraan Israeli settlement south of Silwad.
“During the chase, the suspect spotted the soldiers, exited the vehicle and fired at them. The soldiers responded with live ammunition and incapacitated the assailant,” an army statement said.
An Israeli army spokesman was unable to confirm to AFP that troops had shot dead a Palestinian.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw Israeli forces standing over a body a few meters from a white van.
This incident is the latest in a wave of killings in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A US State Department spokesman said on Friday that Washington was “deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in the West Bank”.
At least 147 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed so far this year in the West Bank, Israel and the disputed city of Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Six Day War.
An estimated 475,000 Jewish settlers currently live in the West Bank in communities considered illegal under international law, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians.
The Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry said “one citizen was killed, after being shot dead by the occupation (Israeli forces) near the town of Silwad” in the central West Bank.
The dead was named Muhajid, 32 Mahmoud Hamed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Israeli army says soldiers launched a manhunt after a gunfight targeted a military post next to Ofraan Israeli settlement south of Silwad.
“During the chase, the suspect spotted the soldiers, exited the vehicle and fired at them. The soldiers responded with live ammunition and incapacitated the assailant,” an army statement said.
An Israeli army spokesman was unable to confirm to AFP that troops had shot dead a Palestinian.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw Israeli forces standing over a body a few meters from a white van.
This incident is the latest in a wave of killings in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A US State Department spokesman said on Friday that Washington was “deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in the West Bank”.
At least 147 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed so far this year in the West Bank, Israel and the disputed city of Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Six Day War.
An estimated 475,000 Jewish settlers currently live in the West Bank in communities considered illegal under international law, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians.
