Young Palestinian man shot dead in occupied West Bank

A young unarmed Palestinian man has been shot dead in the occupied West Bank during a confrontation with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the village of Urif, south of Nablus. 

The 23-year-old, identified as Imayyer Shehadeh, was shot in the chest and succumbed to his wounds shortly after at the Rafidia hospital in Nablus. 

“The settlers raided the village and then the army stepped in,” Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s unclear who shot him exactly,” he said.

“It was basically the Palestinians on one side and the settlers and the occupation army on the other.” 

A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was also shot with live ammunition at the scene and is being treated for his injuries. 

An Israeli forces spokesman told AFP news agency that “a riot was instigated, during which troops used riot dispersal means and fired live rounds”. 

Between 600,000 to 750,000 Israelis live in the occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. They live in hundreds of illegal Jewish-only settlements built on Palestinian land. 

The presence of the settlers within and around Palestinian towns and villages causes near-daily friction between the communities. 

At least 12 unarmed Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories since the start of 2018. 

On Friday, Israeli forces shot and killed 24-year-old Mohammad al-Jaabari in the southern West Bank city of Hebron during a confrontation with the army. 

Jaabari, a father to a four-year-old, was mentally disabled and suffered from a speech impairment. 

The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories has been particularly tense in recent months after US President Donald Trump publicly announced his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 

Trump also vowed to move the US embassy from the Israeli commercial capital Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem.