RAMALLAH: An 80-year-old Palestinian was found dead in a village in the occupied West Bank early Wednesday, his body still handcuffed after an Israeli arrest raid, its mayor said.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment when contacted by AFP.
Around 30 to 40 Israeli troops took part in the pre-dawn operation in the village of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, mayor Fuad Moutee told AFP.
Omar Abdulmajeed Asad and other family members were returning from visiting relatives when they were stopped by the soldiers, Moutee said.
“They stopped the cars in the village center and arrested the passengers inside and handcuffed them,” he said.
After the troops withdrew, villagers found Asad’s body in a building under construction.
In a brief statement, the Palestinian health ministry confirmed the mayor’s version of events, adding that Assad had died of a “heart attack.”
His death comes after clashes between troops and students on Tuesday at Birzeit University, near Ramallah, as well as as an attempted car ramming attack in which an Israeli soldier was injured near a Jewish settlement.
Clashes break out frequently in Palestinian population centers in the West Bank when Israeli troops mount incursions to carry out arrests.
Israel has occupied the territory since the Six-Day War of 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, some 475,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank regarded as illegal under international law, alongside more than 2.9 million Palestinians.