Israeli forces killed a 19-year-old in the occupied West Bank in clashes that broke out early Monday during an Israeli police operation, Palestinian authorities said.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, young Taher Mohammed Zakarneh was shot in the head, foot and thigh in a village near Jenin in the West Bank, a city that has been a bastion of armed struggle and a focal point of Israeli attacks. .
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a group representing current and former Palestinian prisoners, said Israel arrested three Palestinians during the attack on the village of Qabatiya.
The Israeli military said soldiers faced violent protests during a “counterterrorism” operation and responded with gunfire as Molotov cocktails and rocks were thrown.
Overnight, 17 Palestinians were arrested during operations launched across the West Bank, the military added.
Palestinians have carried out dozens of attacks in recent years involving bladed weapons, firearms and car bombs. 19 people were killed in a series of attacks earlier this year.
On Friday, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier before he was killed.
On Sunday, Palestinians opened fire on a bus carrying a group of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, wounding five soldiers, one of them seriously, as well as the bus driver, a civilian.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli army said an explosive device was fired at soldiers at a post in the West Bank, injuring four slightly.
Nevertheless, Israel’s armed forces have been carrying out bombing raids and police operations in the West Bank almost every night, it says aimed at dismantling rebel networks.
Palestinians say such operations aim to maintain Israel’s 55-year military occupation of areas it wants to form an independent state.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East War and built more than 130 settlements, home to nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers. About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, of which they want to be the main part of their future state.
Israel considers the West Bank to be the historical and biblical center of the Jewish people. Palestinians see settlements as the main obstacle to peace, and most countries consider them illegal.
Source: DN
