RAMALLAH: Israeli armed forces martyred a Palestinian man during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian officials said, amid attempts to curb surging violence from spiraling further.
A statement from Israeli police said that its undercover unit was involved in a raid early on Thursday to arrest the Palestinian man suspected of involvement in many shooting attacks. The forces surrounded the home he was in and fired at the man after he aimed a weapon at them, the police said.
The Palestinian health ministry said that 25-year-old Amir Abu Khadijeh was shot in the head in Tulkarem.
The latest group formed to confront Israel’s occupation under the “Tulkarem Brigade” said Abu Khadijeh was one of its founders and described the killing as an “assassination.”
First day of Ramadan
Thursday marked the first day of the holy month of Ramadan in the Palestinian territories.
In the previous years, Ramadan has occasionally seen clashes between Israeli armed forces and Palestinians, particularly around Jerusalem’s Mosque of Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third holiest site, revered as the Temple Mount by Jews. Ramadan coincides this year with Judaism’s Passover and Christian Easter.
