BICOM

A Palestinian man in his fifties was killed yesterday by Israeli soldiers, who said that they came under attack while carrying out an arrest.

The incident happened in the town of Beit Omar in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank. The IDF troops arrived to arrest 24-year-old Mohammed Abu Maria at his family home, but he apparently resisted arrest and an initial confrontation took place, during which Abu Maria was shot in the leg.

By this point, the IDF says that its forces came under attack from locals with bricks and rocks. An IDF spokesperson said, “As the forces left the scene, they were attacked once again by a violent mob who hurled rocks and bricks at them … The forces responded with fire towards the main instigator.” As a result, Abu Maria’s father, 50-year-old Falah Abu Maria was shot dead. However, accounts from local Palestinians claim that the shooting was unprovoked. Falah Abu Maria’s wife Fayqa told AFP “He went out onto the balcony calling for an ambulance, and they opened fire on him … and killed him.”

In another incident, 22-year-old Mohammed Alawneh was killed on Wednesday during clashes over an arrest in the village of Birqin, near Nablus. Meanwhile, Abu Maria was buried yesterday and local youths hurling rocks clashed with IDF forces. The army said that petrol bombs were also thrown and that they responded with rubber bullets. AFP also says that a Palestinian fired a rifle at Israeli soldiers.

Both Israeli forces and Palestinian Authority (PA) officers have carried out widespread arrests in the West Bank during the past several weeks, as there has been a spike in the number of terror attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem during the past two months. Israel has apprehended two terror cells responsible for shootings which killed two Israeli civilians in June. Meanwhile, PA security forces arrested around 170 suspected Hamas activists earlier this month, while Israel uncovered a 40-strong Hamas headquarters in Nablus.