Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in West Bank raid
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man during a raid in the city of Nablus early on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, the latest incident in more than a year of surging violence in the occupied West Bank.
The Islamic Jihad group claimed the dead man was a member, identifying him as 22-yearold Saleh Sabra.
The Israeli military said suspects hurled rocks and explosives and fired at its forces in Nablus, a flashpoint city where there have been regular raids and clashes.
The soldiers shot at the suspects and “a hit was identified,” the military said.
It added that the forces were in Nablus to prepare for the possible demolition of the home of a Palestinian suspected of killing two brothers from a Jewish setlement near the village of Huwara on Feb. 26.
The atack prompted a setler rampage in Huwara, during which a Palestinian man was killed and cars and homes were set alight while people were inside.
Monday’s raid, near a refugee camp in a part of the West Bank where Palestinians exercise limited self-rule, sparked “intense confrontations” with Palestinian fighters, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.
Reuters could not immediately verify whether Sabra took part in the clashes.
“During the operation, suspects threw stones and fired in the direction of soldiers who responded with live fire,” the army said in a statement, adding that one suspect was hit.
The incident comes ater a ceasefire ended five days of fierce fighting between the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza and Israel. The clashes killed 35 people, the vast majority Palestinians.
The conflict has this year claimed the lives of least 150 Palestinians, 20 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.
These figures include combatants as well as civilians, and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.
Palestinians on Monday mark the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homes following the creation of Israel 75 years ago.
Israel says its policy of demolishing the homes of perpetrators of atacks bolsters deterrence and contributes to security.
Palestinians and rights groups have criticised the practice as a form of collective punishment that harms innocent families.
Israel-palestinian violence has been intensifying for months, with frequent Israeli military raids and setler violence in the West Bank amid a spate of Palestinian atacks on Israelis.
Since January, more than 140 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in the West Bank and Israel.
Israel captured Gaza and the West Bank, areas Palestinians want for an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in a 1967 war. Israeli forces and setlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Statehood talks have been frozen since 2014.
Authorities on Sunday lited movement restrictions imposed on Israelis living near the Gaza border.
Sunday also saw Israel re-open its two crossings with Gaza for Palestinians with work permits or permission to access essential medical treatment.
This has paved the way for supplies of medicine, food and fuel to reach the territory.
In the coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon, resident Michelle Weiss warned the fighting is “not finished.”
“Now I’m free, now I can go out... but I know it will begin again,” she told AFP by the beach.
UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Sunday welcomed the ceasefire agreement and offered his “deepest condolences” to victims’ families, according to a statement from his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
The secretary-general also commended Egypt for its “key role in bringing the hostilities to an end,” and the efforts of Qatar, Lebanon and the United States, Dujarric said.
Guterres “calls on all sides to observe the ceasefire,” the statement added.
Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, has been plagued by poverty and unemployment since Israel imposed a crippling blockade in 2007 when Hamas took control.