Israeli forces kill Palestinian, detain 11 in occupied West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and detained 11 others in the West Bank on Sunday, amid ongoing military escalation in the occupied territory, medics and local sources said.

The Health Ministry said Ammar Hijazi, 34, was killed by Israeli fire in the Ayoun al-Haramiya area, north of Ramallah in the central West Bank.

The official news agency Wafa said the young man was critically wounded after Israeli police opened fire on his vehicle near the Ayoun al-Haramiya junction. He was later pronounced dead.

Police claimed that the driver was shot after he refused to heed orders to stop.

Israeli forces also raided the Al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron in the southern West Bank and detained four Palestinian brothers, local sources said.

Five more Palestinians were rounded up from the Aktaba suburb east of Tulkarem city, and from the towns of Kafr Zibad and Kafr Abboush to the south, according to Wafa.

Local sources said a young man was also detained after a raid on his home in the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

In the village of Deir Ghassaneh, northwest of Ramallah, Israeli forces detained a freed prisoner after raiding and searching his home.

Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,109 Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained 21,000 since October 2023, Palestinian figures showed.

The International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal in a landmark opinion last July, and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.