Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank raid: ministry

AL AQABA (Palestinian Territories) (AFP): Israeli forces on Friday killed a Palestinian in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, as a surge of deadly violence in the occupied territory shows no signs of abating.

The ministry said Abdul Rahim Fayez Ghannam, 36, was “shot by live occupation (Israeli) fire in the head” in the village of Al-Aqaba in the northern West Bank.

An AFP photographer saw black smoke billowing from a building during the military raid.

After Israeli forces withdrew, Palestinian residents inspected bullet marks and a gaping hole left in the wall of a house.

The Israeli army, whose forces regularly carry out incursions into Palestinian communities, did not immediately comment on the latest raid when contacted by AFP.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Israel this year is the highest since 2005, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA.

The soaring violence has also involved a rise in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

On Thursday, a Palestinian man rammed into Israeli soldiers near a West Bank checkpoint, killing one, before being shot dead.

A day earlier, Israeli forces killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in Jerusalem after he stabbed a passenger on a tram.

So far this year, at least 225 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.