Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli settlers in West Bank

Ramallah (AFP): A Palestinian was killed in the early hours of Friday in a town that has been the scene of frequent violence in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

“Labib Mohammad Lahib Damidi, 19, was shot in the heart by settlers in the town of Hawara,” the ministry said in a statement, without giving further details.

The Israeli army said in a statement that a suspect had been shot by soldiers.

Hawara, in the northern West Bank, has witnessed several fatal shootings by Palestinians against Israelis in cars this year. Jewish settlers have carried out reprisal attacks against the local population and their property.

Late on Thursday, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who had opened fire on a car stuck in traffic at a junction adjacent to Hawara, without hitting any of the Israeli civilians inside, the army said.

After midnight, dozens of Israeli civilians gathered in an area of Hawara and engaged in stone-throwing clashes with Palestinians, the army said, before soldiers intervened with “riot dispersal means to defuse the confrontation.”

In its statement, the army said a suspect “threw a block at an Israeli vehicle,” prompting soldiers to respond with live fire. It added that “a hit was identified.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 58 people at the scene of the clashes who had suffered from tear gas inhalation.

The military said it had received reports “regarding vandalism of the properties of Palestinian residents of the town by Israeli civilians.”

In February, dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to numerous buildings in Hawara after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis in the town.

A surge in violence has hit the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

There has been a rise in army raids, Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis and Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property.

So far this year at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners have been killed in the conflict, including combatants and civilians on both sides, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.