Palestinian killed as Israel hunts West Bank shooter
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian teenager was shot dead on Friday as Israeli forces carried out fresh raids in the occupied West Bank, the health ministry said, as troops searched for a Palestinian who killed two soldiers a day earlier.
The 17-year-old killed was named by the Palestinian health ministry as Mahmoud Nakhla, who authorities said died after being shot in the stomach by Israeli fire near the Jalazone refugee camp in the central West Bank.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the death, which came as soldiers clashed with stone-throwing protesters in multiple locations.
Soldiers again entered the Al-Bireh neighbourhood of the West Bank city of Ramallah where they carried out raids Thursday, an AFP journalist said, with residents saying they seized cameras from two buildings.
The army was searching for the perpetrator of Thursday’s shooting in the West Bank, where 400,000 Israelis live in settlements alongside more than 2.5 million Palestinians.
It was the third deadly attack by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank in two months and set off demonstrations by settler groups against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose rightwing government depends on their support.
Israeli media speculated Friday about the possibility of a new Palestinian “intifada,” or uprising, against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Protests as part of a Palestinian ‘day of rage’ Friday were, however, smaller than anticipated.
Ayman Safadi, foreign minister for neighbouring Jordan, on Friday criticised “the continuation of the occupation by Israel of Palestinian territories” and the lack of any prospect for lasting peace.
The current situation “constitutes a great threat to stability in the whole region,” he said. In Thursday’s attack, a gunman got out of his car and opened fire on soldiers and others outside a settlement in the central West Bank, killing two and seriously wounding another two Israelis before fleeing. The funerals of the two soldiers, Sergeant Yovel Moryosef and Corporal Yosef Cohen, were held on Friday.
After the attack the army locked down Ramallah, home to secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, while calling in reinforcements.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces erupted Thursday in different parts of the West Bank, including inside Ramallah during army raids.
Settlers shouting for revenge threw stones at Palestinian vehicles, while an Arab bus driver was beaten by ultraOrthodox Jews in Modiin Illit settlement, according to Israeli media reports.
In overnight raids, the army said it arrested 40 Palestinians, most of them affiliated with the Islamist movement Hamas which has claimed responsibility for two recent shooting attacks.
It has not yet claimed Thursday’s attack, though Israeli officials point the finger of blame in its direction.
The army did not say it had made arrests linked directly to the latest attack.