RAMALLAH: Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man and injured dozens more in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Mohammed Assaf, 34, secretary of the Fatah movement in the village of Kafr Laqif near Qalqilya, was killed while driving through the area as Israeli forces were launching raids in Nablus and the surrounding towns, officials said.
His death was the latest in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan.
Ahmed Jibril, director of the Red Crescent in Nablus, told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that four civilians were hit by live rounds, one of whom was struck in the chest and is in a serious condition.
Eight others were hit by rubber-coated metal bullets, including one who sustained an eye injury, while 47 had breathing difficulties after inhaling tear gas fumes during clashes with occupation forces in Beita, south of Nablus.
Nine young men also suffered bruising after being knocked over by Israeli patrol vehicles.
Israeli forces invaded Beita, Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya and Urif, south of Nablus, and the eastern area of Nablus to protect the settlers who stormed Joseph’s Tomb.
The soldiers searched several houses in the towns and arrested five people.
Condemning the Israeli excesses, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said “occupation soldiers continue to murder for the sake of murder, with a license granted by the prime minister of the occupying state, Naftali Bennett, without the slightest regard for international laws and norms.”
He added: “The martyr, Assaf, the father of three children, was shot in the chest while he was in Nablus this morning.”
Also on Wednesday, three young men were injured by live rounds and a fourth was arrested when Israeli special forces stormed the Kadoorie University campus in Tulkarm.
Witnesses said that an undercover unit shot an employee of a private security company at the university and wounded another.
Less than a week after the Tel Aviv shooting attack, the Israeli army and its internal security agency, Shin Bet, expanded their operations in the West Bank to other cities and towns.
While Bennett has given the Israeli security forces a free hand in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, fear remains palpable on Israeli streets with police, border guards and reservists deployed in large numbers at train stations in central Tel Aviv and Clock Square in the center of Jaffa where the premier lives.
There have been enhanced security checks in shopping malls and train stations by private security guards, and some civilians have been seen carrying weapons in anticipation of an attack.
The situation is the same in western Jerusalem. In the Damascus Gate area, Israeli forces can be seen wearing protective helmets in preparation to tackle any security threats.
