JERUSALEM: Israeli police said border officers shot dead a Palestinian man on Monday as he tried to enter Jerusalem by climbing over the barrier separating the city from the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah identified the man as Sanad Najeh Mohammed Hantouli, 25, saying he was killed by Israeli gunfire near the West Bank town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem.
An Israeli police spokesperson reported that border police officers “foiled an infiltration attempt through the security barrier in Jerusalem.”
“The suspect was shot and neutralized,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding he was later pronounced dead by medical teams.
Hantouli’s body was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah before being taken to his hometown, Silat Al-Dhahr.
Many Palestinians have attempted to cross the separation barrier illegally in recent months, seeking work inside Israel after authorities there revoked thousands of work permits following the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Many have died fleeing from Israeli forces, Palestinian officials say.
Israel began building the barrier at the height of the second Palestinian intifada, which began in 2002, saying it was needed to maintain security amid Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Israeli cities.
The barrier cuts into many parts of the West Bank, and Palestinians see it as a land grab and a de facto border, illegal under international law.
Palestinians say the barrier has further deepened the economic crisis in the West Bank.
Israel maintains tight restrictions on the movement of the West Bank’s roughly three million residents, who require special permits to cross checkpoints into East Jerusalem or Israel.
Al-Ram, located near the Qalandiya checkpoint, is separated from Jerusalem by a section of the barrier reinforced with barbed wire.
A joint World Bank, EU and UN report released in February 2025 said just 27,000 Palestinians were working in Israel and West Bank settlements, down from 177,000 before the Gaza war broke out in October 2023.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967.
Violence has sharply escalated in the Palestinian territory since the Gaza war began.
At least 977 Palestinians — both militants and civilians — have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since October 2023, according to AFP figures based on Palestinian Authority data.
In the same period, at least 42 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in attacks or military operations in the West Bank, Israeli official figures show.
Israel police say Palestinian killed while trying to climb over barrier
https://arab.news/9zvhf
Israel police say Palestinian killed while trying to climb over barrier
- Sanad Hantouli, 25, was killed by Israeli gunfire near the West Bank town of Al-Ram, north of Jerusalem
- Israeli authorities revoked Palestinian work permits since late 2023, prompting laborers from the West Bank to cross the separation barrier “illegally”
Family of Palestinian-American shot dead by Israeli settler demand accountability
- Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community
LONDON: The family of a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man reportedly shot dead by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank have demanded accountability, amid mounting scrutiny over a surge in settler violence and a lack of prosecutions.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a US citizen born in Philadelphia, was killed near the city of Ramallah on Wednesday, becoming at least the sixth American citizen to die in incidents involving Israeli settlers or soldiers in the territory in the past two years.
Relatives say Abu Siyam was among about 30 residents from the village of Mukhmas who confronted armed settlers attempting to steal goats from the community. Witnesses said that stones were thrown by both sides before settlers opened fire, wounding at least three villagers.
Abu Siyam was struck and later died of his injuries.
Abdulhamid Siyam, the victim’s cousin, said the killing reflected a wider pattern of impunity.
“A young man of 19 shot and killed in cold blood, and no responsibility,” he told the BBC. “Impunity completely.”
The US State Department said that it was aware of the death of a US citizen and was “carefully monitoring the situation,” while the Trump administration said that it stood ready to provide consular assistance.
The Israeli embassy in Washington said the incident was under review and that an operational inquiry “must be completed as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces said troops were deployed to the scene and used “riot dispersal means to restore order,” adding that no IDF gunfire was reported.
The military confirmed that the incident remained under review and said that a continued presence would be maintained in the area to prevent further unrest.
Palestinians and human rights organizations say such reviews rarely lead to criminal accountability, arguing that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers accused of violence.
A US embassy spokesperson later said that Washington “condemns this violence,” as international concern continues to grow over conditions in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians and human rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to investigate or prosecute settlers accused of violence against civilians.
Those concerns were echoed this week by the UN, which warned that Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank may amount to ethnic cleansing.
A UN human rights office report on Thursday said that Israeli settlement expansion, settler attacks and military operations have increasingly displaced Palestinian communities, with dozens of villages reportedly emptied since the start of the Gaza war.
The report also criticized Israeli military tactics in the northern West Bank, saying that they resembled warfare and led to mass displacement, while noting abuses by Palestinian security forces, including the use of unnecessary lethal force and the intimidation of critics.
Neither Israel’s foreign ministry nor the Palestinian Authority has commented on the findings.
