Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, and the Israeli police shot another Palestinian after he stabbed an Israeli in occupied East Jerusalem, police said.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Rabi Arafah Rabi, 32, died at a hospital on Saturday. The ministry said he was hit by “a bullet to the head” at a checkpoint southeast of the city of Qalqilya.

The Israeli military said its troops were trying to detain a vehicle after its passengers had crossed illegally into Israel. It said the vehicle fled and hit a soldier, after which “the soldiers fired toward the vehicle”.

In a separate incident in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli police said they shot a Palestinian who stabbed and wounded an Israeli, before fleeing. They said police identified the attacker and shot him when he turned towards an officer with an “object” in his hand.

The statement did not say how police identified him, what kind of object he was holding or how close he was to the officer.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the alleged suspect was 16 years old and was seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire. It did not provide his name or further details. Israeli medics evacuated him to a Jerusalem hospital.

The violence is the latest in a wave of deadly attacks in East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the spring, making this year the deadliest since 2015.

Palestinian assailants have carried out a series of stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in recent years.

While Israel says it uses deadly force only in life-threatening situations, Palestinians and human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force, and in some cases, killing people uninvolved in violence.

The violence escalated in the spring with Israel intensifying nightly raids in the West Bank after a series of attacks. The raids often spark deadly clashes between the army and Palestinians.

More than 125 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year. The fighting has surged since a series of Palestinian attacks killed 19 people in Israel.

The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed were attackers. But stone-throwing young people protesting against the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have been killed.

Israel captured the West Bank in the Six-Day War of 1967 and has built more than 130 settlements there, many of which resemble small towns, with apartment blocks, shopping malls and industrial zones.

The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state. Most countries view the settlements as a violation of international law.