West Bank: Israeli forces fatally shoot Palestinian man in the back in al-Bireh
A young Palestinian man was fatally shot in the back by Israeli forces on Wednesday in the city of al-Bireh, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Muhammad Issa Abbas, 26, was killed while he was in a car travelling from the al-Amari camp near Ramallah, the ministry said, as reported by the Wafa news agency.
He was sent to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where doctors attempted to save his life, but was later pronounced dead.
In a statement, the Israeli military said soldiers had come under fire from a passing vehicle while searching for Palestinians spotted approaching the illegal settlement of Psagot.
"The troops responded with fire and hit the assailant," the military said, adding that none of the soldiers was hurt in the incident.
In the wake of the killing, Israeli forces used tear gas as well as live ammunition to disperse a crowd of dozens of Palestinians who had gathered in protest.
The shooting came a day after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian motorist they said they suspected of attempting to drive his vehicle into a military checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Mevo Dotan in the West Bank.
Un envoy 'alarmed'
Violence has simmered in the occupied West Bank, part of territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians seek for a future state, since US-sponsored peace talks broke down in 2014.
Multiple Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli forces just this month, including Mohammad Shawkat Salima, 25, who had allegedly stabbed an Israeli citizen, and a 16-year-old who was killed after allegedly ramming his car into an Israeli military checkpoint.
The two officers who shot Salima were acquitted by Israel's internal police investigations department, which said the killing of the Palestinian man was "justified".
Israeli politicians have praised police officers, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett saying they "acted very quickly and decisively, as expected of Israeli police, against a terrorist who tried to murder an Israeli citizen".
Last month, Israeli police forces killed 42-year-old Fadi Abu Shukhaidem, from Jerusalem's Shuafat neighbourhood, for allegedly shooting dead an Israeli and wounding two others in the Old City.
Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Middle East peace envoy, last week said he was "alarmed" by the recent escalation of violence on both sides, saying the situation had become "volatile."
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