At least one Palestinian has died this Monday after being shot by Israeli security forces following an alleged deliberate attempt to run over in the vicinity of the West Bank city of Hebron, according to Palestinian authorities.
The Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs has indicated in a statement disseminated on social media that one Palestinian has died and two others have been injured, one of them in critical condition, by fire from Israeli forces near the town of Bani Naim. Although the details of the injured have not yet been provided, medical sources have confirmed that the deceased is Mahmud Hani Adeis, 41 years old, a resident of Yatta, south of Hebron.
A witness cited by the Qatari channel Al Yazira has reported that the man was driving a vehicle near the access to Bani Naim when Israeli soldiers "riddled the car with bullets."
The Israeli Army, for its part, has spoken of "a car theft attempt" in the area and has explained that forces deployed in the area "identified a vehicle that was driving suspiciously with three suspects inside." "The driver accelerated and crashed into the forces' vehicle," it added.
According to their version, the military responded by opening fire on the car, hitting its occupants. "The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have launched search operations and blockades in the nearby towns," it noted, emphasizing that there were no casualties among its personnel.
Abdulrahman Shadid, a leader of the political wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), has accused Israeli troops of having "executed" the Palestinian in Bani Naim, an act he described as "an extension of the increase in the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people."
"The terrorism of the occupation will not succeed in breaking the will of our people or pushing them to displacement and renouncing their rights and their land," he stated, before urging Palestinians in the West Bank to "increase their mobilization" and "confront the crimes of the occupation and its settlers," according to a statement released by the Islamist group.
Subsequently, controversy has arisen after a photograph circulated showing two Israeli soldiers posing for a picture next to the body of the deceased Palestinian.
"NEUTRALIZED" A PALESTINIAN IN ANOTHER INCIDENT IN THE WEST BANK
In another incident, the Israeli Army has reported in a brief note that "a terrorist armed with a knife" has been "neutralized" by "an Israeli civilian" during an episode in which a vehicle was set on fire in a settlement in the West Bank.
The military authorities have added that the security forces have launched an operation to locate a second suspect allegedly involved in the incident, without providing further details for now. It has also not been specified whether the first Palestinian is dead or injured.
Meanwhile, Palestinian authorities have reported the death of a 45-year-old man after the vehicle in which he was being transported on Sunday to a hospital was held up at an Israeli Army checkpoint in Enab, east of Tulkarem, in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Red Crescent has stated that its teams received a notice about a patient in very serious condition at that checkpoint and indicated that they attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers after suffering a heart attack, although he ultimately died at the scene, according to the official Palestinian agency WAFA.
The deceased has been identified as Raafat Jairi abú Jalil, a captain of the Palestinian Military Training Authority. The body was subsequently transferred to a hospital in Tulkarem, while Israeli authorities have not yet issued any assessment of what occurred.
These episodes occur in a context of increased attacks by settlers and operations by the Israeli Army in the West Bank following the attacks of October 7, 2023. However, in the months prior to that year, the highest number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, two decades ago, had already been recorded.