Thousands mourn Palestinian killed in West Bank raid

Thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank organised a popular funeral Sunday afternoon for a young man who was shot dead during a dawn raid by Israeli forces in the northern Nablus city.

Mourners held Palestinian flags and shouted slogans against Israeli occupation as they laid the young man's body to rest in the cemetery of al-Ain refugee camp where he used to live.

The man had sustained four gunshot wounds to the chest as Israeli forces attacked the western al-Ain refugee camp and other parts of the West Bank in search for three Jewish teenage settlers whom Israel said were kidnapped from a settlement block near the West Bank city of Hebron earlier this month.

Another man was found dead in a building entrance following a raid in a central Ramallah district.

Scores of Palestinians have also been injured in clashes with Israeli forces during the raids.

Tensions in the Palestinian territories have run high since three settlers went missing from the Jewish-only Gush Etzion settlement bloc, located near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

In recent days, Israeli security forces have detained over 400  Palestinians, including leading Hamas members, lawmakers and former government ministers and raided over 1,000 locations throughout the occupied West Bank according to Ma’an news in an effort to “crush” Hamas.

Israel accuses Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas of kidnapping 3 settler teenagers, a claim Hamas has denied.

More deaths as Israel carries out arrests

Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in the West Bank early Sunday in separate clashes that erupted as they carried out fresh arrests in the hunt for three missing settler teenagers.

Their deaths raised to four the number of Palestinians killed since the Israeli army began a vast search for the three young students who disappeared on 12 June while hitchhiking in the southern West Bank. Israel accuses Hamas militants of kidnapping them.

Israel has said the objective of "Operation Brother's Keeper" is to bring the teens home safe while dealing a crushing blow to the West Bank infrastructure of its Islamist nemesis.

So far, the army has arrested more than 400 Palestinians, around two thirds of them members of Hamas.

The teens' seizure has been condemned by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who questioned on Sunday why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not condemned the bloodshed triggered by the manhunt.

"I said the kidnapping was a crime, but does that justify the killing of ... Palestinian teens in cold blood?" Abbas said in an interview with Haaretz newspaper, referring to the deaths of two young Palestinians.

"What does Netanyahu have to say about the killings? Does he condemn it? Look at what's happened all over the West Bank over the past days, the violence and the destruction of homes," he said.

"Is that justified?"

Mentally unstable 

With the search entering its 10th day, clashes broke out in the northern cities of Nablus and Ramallah as troops went in to carry out arrests, sources on both sides said.

Troops in Ein Beit al-Mai refugee camp in western Nablus shot dead 27-year-old Ahmed Fahnawi as he was on his way to a mosque for morning prayers as clashes were taking place.

Palestinian security sources said he was hit by four bullets, while family members told AFP he was mentally challenged.

The Israeli army confirmed firing at a man, saying he had approached troops "in a threatening manner". When he failed to respond to warning shots fired in the air, they fired towards him.

"Initial inquiry suggests that the suspect was mentally unstable," a military statement said.

Also early on Sunday, Israeli troops shot dead 30-year-old Mohammed Tarifi during clashes that lasted for hours in the centre of Ramallah, the West Bank's political capital, Palestinian medics said.

Five others were also wounded during the incident, they said. The army had no immediate comment.

In West Bank clashes earlier in the week, troops shot dead two young Palestinians and a third was left fighting for his life.

On Monday, troops in Jalazun camp near Ramallah shot dead 19-year-old Ahmad Arafat Sabarin, and on Friday, Mohammed Dudin, 14, was killed in Dura near Hebron.

Another 20-year-old Palestinian who was shot during clashes at Qalandiya near Ramallah is fighting for his life in Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital.