Israeli forces kill Palestinian in occupied West Bank raid

Ahmad Owaidat, 20, was killed during an Israeli raid in Jericho, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced.

Israeli soldiers in Tulkarem
Israeli forces have conducted multiple raids across the occupied West Bank in the past month [File: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP]

Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man during a raid on the Aqabet Jaber refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The man was identified as 20-year-old Ahmad Ibrahim Owaidat. The Ministry of Health said he had been shot in the head in the early hours of Tuesday.

Owaidat was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Ramallah hospital and remained there for several hours before he was pronounced dead.

Israeli forces conducted a predawn raid on the camp and arrested at least two Palestinians.

In response to the killing, the Fatah movement in Jericho and the Jordan Valley announced a general strike on Tuesday.

Two other Palestinians were killed over the past week in the West Bank; 21-year-old Lutfi al-Labadi and 18-year-old Hanan Khdour were shot during Israeli army raids in the Jenin area.

Tensions are high in Jerusalem and in the West Bank.

A rise in attacks by Palestinians has led to the killing of 14 people in Israel since March 22. Meanwhile, Israelis have killed at least 46 Palestinians from the West Bank since the beginning of 2022.

Settler incursions under police protection during the past week, when the Jewish festival of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan overlapped, led to daily confrontations with Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, with many Palestinians injured and arrested.

Weeks of protests against the forced displacement of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, and raids by Israeli forces on Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year, escalated into a widespread uprising across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and an 11-day assault on the besieged Gaza Strip.

Source: Al Jazeera