Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank, Palestinian authorities say

2023-08-10 07:00:02

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health authorities reported Thursday, the latest death in an unrelenting wave of violence.

The death brings to 168 the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank so far this year, according to a count by The Associated Press. And it comes amid rising tensions over ongoing Israeli raids on Palestinian parts of the territory and the granting of house arrest to a Jewish settler accused of involvement in the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian last week.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli soldiers killed 27-year-old Amir Ahmed Khalifa in the West Bank town of Zawata, north of the city of Nablus. The area has been a focus of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the current wave of violence.

For its part, the Israeli army explained that a gunman opened fire on its soldiers in the Nablus area and that they responded.

Israel carries out almost daily nighttime raids on Palestinian areas in what it calls an attempt to dismantle insurgent networks and thwart future attacks. These operations have sparked some of the worst clashes between the two sides in the West Bank in the last two decades and have left enormous numbers of deaths.

According to Israel, most of those killed during its raids belonged to insurgent groups, but among the victims there are also young people who threw rocks in protest of the raids and other people unconnected to the clashes.

At least 27 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis this year.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, the three territories the Palestinians want for their future independent state.

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