ISRAELI FORCES KILLED a Palestinian man during a raid in the occupied West Bank following the fatal shooting of an Israeli-American motorist earlier this week, the Palestinian health ministry said today.

The Israeli army said soldiers fired at two people who tried to flee after they entered the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho to arrest suspects in the Monday shooting attack in the same area.

Mahmoud Jamal Hassan Hamdan, 22, died from “serious wounds inflicted by bullets of the occupation (Israel)” during the raid, a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said.

Hamdan died before arriving at Jerusalem’s Hadassa hospital, a spokesperson there said.

Israeli forces in Aqabat Jabr “arrested four suspects including the terrorist responsible for the attack” that killed Israeli-American Elan Ganeles, 27, the army said.

Ganeles was buried today at the central Israeli city of Raanana.

Jihad Abu al-Assad, governor of Jericho, told AFP Hamdan had sustained serious injuries.

The latest deaths came amid a surge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and specifically in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Late Sunday, the Palestinian town of Huwara came under attack by Israeli settlers, hours after two Israeli settlers – brothers Yagel Yaniv, 20, and Hallel Yaniv, 22 – were shot dead as they drove through the northern West Bank town.

Dozens of Israeli settlers set homes and cars ablaze and hurled stones in Huwara overnight.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant deplored an “intolerable” situation, saying: “We cannot allow a situation in which citizens take the law into their (own) hands.”

Police have arrested seven suspects in connection with the attack.

Since the start on the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 64 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.

Thirteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

On Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged in a joint statement to “prevent further violence” and “commit to de-escalation” following talks in Jordan.

 – © AFP 2023