By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted yesterday at 10:48 AM, updated yesterday at 2:45 PM
Israeli soldiers face Palestinian protesters at the north entrance to the city of Ramallah, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El in the occupied West Bank, January 26, 2023. AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP
Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, with the Israeli military claiming he was armed.
Karam Ali Ahmad Salman, 18, was killed by the “Israeli occupation near the settlement of Kdumim” in the north of this area occupied by Israel since 1967, the Palestinian ministry said. According to the Israeli army, a “civilian security team” opened fire on a person “armed with a pistol” near this Jewish colony on Saturday night.
The Israeli settlement in the West Bank is deemed illegal by the United Nations, and according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Kdumim was built on private Palestinian land. Another Palestinian, injured in clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers a few days earlier, died at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the facility told AFP, without revealing his identity or age.
235 dead in 2022, almost 90% Palestinians
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians (including attackers, militants and civilians, including minors), 6 Israeli civilians (including one minor) and one Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally, according to official Israeli and Palestinian sources. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a “strong” and “swift” response to two attacks carried out by two Palestinians on Friday and Saturday in East Jerusalem, part of the Israeli-occupied and annexed Holy City.
On Friday night, a 21-year-old Palestinian shot at passers-by near a synagogue in the Neve Yaacov settlement, killing six Israelis and one Ukrainian. On Saturday morning, a 13-year-old Palestinian shot and wounded two Israelis in Silwan, a stone’s throw from the Old City walls. This new violence comes amid a sudden escalation after the deaths of nine Palestinians, including militants and a 60-year-old man, on Thursday in a raid by the Israeli army in Jenin in the northern West Bank.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Monday and Tuesday to discuss de-escalation steps. In 2022, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict claimed 235 lives, almost 90% Palestinians, according to the AFP census.
TO HAVEIN ADDITION – Israel: Netanyahu promises “strong, rapid and precise” response to attacks on Jerusalem