Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank raid

AFP | Jerusalem

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Israeli forces yesterday killed a Palestinian in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as a surge of deadly violence in the occupied territory shows no signs of abating.

The ministry said Abdul Rahim Fayez Ghannam, 36, was “shot by live occupation (Israeli) fire in the head” in the village of Al-Aqaba in the northern West Bank.

An AFP photographer saw black smoke billowing from a building during the military raid.

The Israeli army said in a statement a firefight broke out between militants and soldiers and “a hit was identified on one of the gunmen.” Troops also “used shoulder-fired missiles and grenades” in the violence, and subsequently found improvised explosive devices and other weapons in the building, the statement said.

After Israeli forces withdrew, Palestinian residents inspected bullet marks and a gaping hole left in the wall of a house.

Mourners gathered for the funeral of Ghannam, whose head was wrapped in a keffiyeh while his body was shrouded in a Palestinian flag.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Israel this year is the highest since 2005, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA.

The soaring violence has also involved a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

On Thursday, a Palestinian man rammed into Israeli soldiers near a West Bank checkpoint, killing one, before being shot dead.

A day earlier, Israeli forces killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in Jerusalem after he stabbed a passenger on a tram. So far this year, at least 225 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.