Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian Health Ministry and an Israeli army relative said, citing “anti-terrorist activities” in the sector.
According to the ministry, 27-year-old Amir Khalifa was killed in the village of Zawata, west of the city of Nablus.
“He was shot in the head and another in the back, fired by Israeli occupying forces during their attack on the town of Zawata,” he added in a statement.
The Israeli army, in turn, said that a suspect opened fire on soldiers carrying out “anti-terrorist activities” in Nablus during the night.
“The soldiers responded with live ammunition,” the army said, without specifying whether it was the same incident that killed Amir Khalifa.
Khalifa, who lived in the Ain Beit Ilma refugee camp near Nablus, was “wanted by the Israeli army for two years and refused to surrender,” a family member who wished to remain anonymous told AFP.
This new death comes amid an outbreak of violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year, particularly in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
According to an AFP tally from official sources, at least 213 Palestinians have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the beginning of the year, along with 28 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian.
These statistics include combatants and civilians on the Palestinian side and three members of the Arab minority on the Israeli side.
Excluding occupied and annexed East Jerusalem, almost three million Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank. In addition, around 490,000 Israelis live there in settlements that the United Nations has classified as illegal under international law.