ANKARA 

Israeli forces killed a 20-year-old Palestinian in a raid in Jericho in the eastern West Bank on Tuesday amid ongoing escalation in the occupied territory, according to local media.

The official news agency Wafa, citing medical sources, said Mohammed Yahya Jlayta succumbed to live bullet wounds sustained when Israeli forces stormed the Al-Arab neighborhood in central Jericho after midnight.

The Israeli forces reportedly fired live ammunition and stun grenades at residents during the raid, which included breaking into a civilian home, where Jlayta was critically injured before being pronounced dead.

Israeli army forces also raided the northern cities of Nablus and Tubas, hours after their military raid in Jericho, witnesses said.

Military vehicles swept into Nablus from several directions, moving towards the city’s old town amid gunfire, they added.

A similar raid was reported in Tubas, but no information was yet available about injuries.

Almost on a daily basis, the Israeli army carries out wide-ranging arrest campaigns across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on the pretext of searching for “wanted” Palestinians.

Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 970 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The International Court of Justice declared last July that Israel’s longstanding occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal, and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.