Israeli man killed in West Bank shooting
An Israeli man has succumbed to his wounds following a shooting near the Dead Sea in the occupied West Bank on Monday.
According to Haaretz, the 27-year-old man initially received medical attention near the site after the shooting, and was later evacuated to Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem.
The media outlet did not attribute blame for the incident, however tensions have been running high in the West Bank following settler attacks on Palestinian residences near Nablus over the weekend and the killing of two Israeli settlers in Huwwara town by a suspected Palestinian.
Palestinians in the nearby city of Jericho said the Israeli military was blocking the entrances to the city and conducting searches in Aqabat Jabr refugee camp.
After the Huwwara shooting, Israeli settlers rampaged through towns in the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening in revenge attacks, burning and attacking Palestinian homes and property for hours.
At least one Palestinian was killed and nearly 400 wounded in the attacks, Palestinian health officials said.
Sameh Hamdullah Aktech, 37, was shot dead in Za'tara town near Nablus. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its staff treated someone for stabbing wounds and at least two others suffered head injuries.
Homes, shops, cars and agricultural land were set ablaze by settlers who roamed the streets of several Palestinian towns, mainly near Nablus. Attacks were reported in Ramallah and Salfit.
PRCS said at least 35 homes were completely burned down and 40 others were partially damaged. More than 100 cars were burnt or destroyed, it added.
Hours before the violence, several Israeli politicians called for the Palestinian village to be wiped out.
In a since deleted tweet, David Ben Zion, the deputy head of the Samaria Council that governs illegal settlements in the northern West Bank, called for Israeli politicians to show no mercy and that the “village of Huwwara should be erased today”.
The tweet was liked by the country’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Ben Zion, who represents more than a dozen Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank including where the attack occurred, later said that he had written the comments in the “heat of the moment”.
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