Two Palestinians killed in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank
Two Palestinians were killed in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, with one man shot dead by the Israeli army at the entrance to the Balata refugee camp, near Nablus, and another man reportedly run over by a settler west of Ramallah.
Bakir Hashash, 21, was shot in the head after the Israeli army entered the Nablus suburb of Balata al-Balad, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
Security sources told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli soldiers had opened fire towards Palestinian youths, critically wounding Hashash who later succumbed to his wounds at a Nablus hospital.
He was the first Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces in 2022.
The Israeli army said its troops had shot at an armed man who fired on soldiers during an operation to arrest a wanted suspect in Nablus.
"A casualty was identified," the army said, adding that there were no casualties among its troops, AFP reported.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "All sides must bear responsibility before the situation spirals out of control."
Abbas's security forces organised a military funeral march for Hashash in Nablus, attended by hundreds of Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Wafa reported that Mustafa Falaneh, 25, was run over by a settler at the Israeli Beit Sira checkpoint, west of Ramallah.
The news agency said Falaneh, from the village of Safa, was travelling to his workplace inside the 1948 territories.
According to a relative, Falaneh, the father of a one-and-a half-year-old girl, was crossing the street when he was run over by the settler.
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