Israel: Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank

Europe 1 with AFP 9:52 a.m., April 26, 2022, modified at 9:53 a.m., April 26, 2022

A Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday succumbed to his wounds, the latest incident in a wave of violence in the Palestinian Territories and Israel.

Ibrahim Oweidat, 20, was shot in the head at dawn in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp near the Palestinian city of Jericho, the Palestinian health ministry reported, without specifying the circumstances of the incident. .

The Israeli army said it had carried out a "counterterrorism operation" in the Aqabat Jaber camp.

Two other Palestinians injured by gunfire

During this operation, "dozens of Palestinians violently attacked the soldiers", "burned tires, threw stones and Molotov cocktails", the army said in a statement, adding that no soldier had been injured.

The army "retaliated with riot dispersal means and live ammunition", she added.

Two other Palestinians were injured by gunfire, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Clashes with the Israeli army break out regularly in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 by the Jewish state, on the sidelines of demonstrations against Israeli colonization or arrests in Palestinian localities by Israeli security forces.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party branch in Jericho announced a strike on Tuesday, according to Wafa.

14 people killed in one month

This incident comes against a backdrop of tension and violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Since March 22, 14 people have been killed in anti-Israeli attacks.

In retaliation, Israeli forces were given carte blanche to "defeat terror" and carried out operations punctuated by deadly clashes in the occupied West Bank.

A total of 25 Palestinians, including attackers, died during this period.

In occupied East Jerusalem, more than 250 Palestinians have been injured in recent weeks in clashes with Israeli security forces at the Esplanade of the Mosques, a holy site and powder keg in the Old City.

In addition, Palestinian armed groups fired several rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli soil, to which the Israeli army responded with strikes on the Palestinian enclave, under Israeli blockade since 2007. The Jewish state had closed Sunday the Erez crossing, the only one for the movement of people between Gaza and Israel, in retaliation for rocket attacks before deciding to reopen it on Tuesday.

260 deaths in Gaza in 2021

"After the assessment of the security situation, it has been decided that (Palestinian) workers and traders will be able to enter Israel again on Tuesday through the Erez crossing," Cogat, the ministry's organ, said on Monday. Israeli Defense Force which oversees civilian activities in the Palestinian Territories.

This reopening is "conditional on maintaining security in the sector", said Cogat.

This new wave of violence comes nearly a year after an 11-day war between the Jewish state and Hamas, the armed Islamist movement in power in Gaza.

In May 2021, this confrontation left 260 dead in Gaza in Israeli raids, including fighters according to local authorities, and 14 dead in Israel, including a soldier.