Palestinian killed by Israeli army gunfire in occupied West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine

A Palestinian man succumbed to his wounds on Friday after being shot by Israeli forces in the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.

According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Yasser Raed Fayez Mtair was fatally injured after being shot in the abdomen by Israeli forces during a raid on the Al-Matar neighborhood in Qalandiya.

He was transferred to the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah in critical condition, where he was later pronounced dead.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that an Israeli military unit stormed several neighborhoods in Qalandiya and its refugee camp early Friday morning, conducting searches of Palestinian homes. This incited confrontations with dozens of local residents.

The witnesses reported that Israeli forces used live ammunition and tear gas canisters, leading to Mtair’s injury.

Qalandiya refugee camp was established after the Nakba (the 1948 Palestinian expulsion), when many Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and lands due to attacks by Zionist paramilitary groups. Israel considers the camp part of the Greater Jerusalem municipality, and it remains under Israeli control.

At least 710 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 5,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank since last Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry.

The escalation follows a landmark July opinion by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land "illegal" and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara