West Bank: Israeli troops kill Palestinian man over alleged stabbing attempt
Israeli troops have fatally shot a Palestinian man who was allegedly running towards them with a knife at a bus station in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army has said.
Citing an "initial investigation," the army said in a statement on Friday that the man had arrived at a junction near the Ariel settlement in a car, got out "armed with a knife, [and] ran toward the bus station" where civilians and Israeli soldiers were standing.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the deceased as Amir Atef Reyan, a 37-year-old resident of Qarawet Bani Hassan, a village near Salfit in the West Bank.
The ministry said he died from his wounds, while the Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces had prevented their paramedics from reaching the man to treat him before he was transferred to hospital.
Photos and videos published online showed Reyan lying face down at a junction near an Israeli settlement before being taken away in an ambulance.
The Israeli army said it was pursuing the vehicle's other occupants, who had fled the scene.
The army later said it had arrested another suspect who was in the car, according to the Associated Press.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the killing, saying in a statement on Friday that the incident was "killing for the sake of killing," as reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
At least four 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 16-year-old Mohammad Nidal Younis, who was killed after allegedly ramming his car into an Israeli military checkpoint.
The latest killing comes just one week after Israeli forces shot and killed Muhammad Issa Abbas, a 26-year-old Palestinian man, while he was in a car travelling from the al-Amari camp near Ramallah.
Israeli forces are frequently accused of committing extra-judicial killings of Palestinians, who are accused of alleged attacks against Israelis. Often, the killings of the Palestinians are caught on camera.
On 20 December, Israel's public prosecution closed an investigation into the May 2020 killing of Mustafa Younis, a mentally ill Palestinian citizen of Israel, concluding that the men who shot him "acted in accordance with the procedures".
Younis's family denounced the decision as "a license to kill" Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Tor Wennesland, the United Nations Middle East peace envoy, said earlier this month he was "alarmed" by the recent escalation of violence on both sides, saying the situation had become "volatile".
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