RAMALLAH: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man on Friday in the city of Jenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank, with the military saying he had attempted to stab a soldier.
Fathi Zidan Hazem, 58, “died from injuries sustained after being shot by Israeli forces early Friday in the city of Jenin,” the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement, adding that his body was being withheld by Israel.
Hazem was a retired colonel in the Palestinian National Security Forces.
In April 2022, after his son, Raad Hazem, carried out a shooting spree in Tel Aviv in which he killed three Israelis and wounded several others, Israeli authorities demanded that Fathi Hazem hand himself in.
His son was shot dead by Israeli forces after a massive manhunt.
A second son, Abdul Rahman Hazem, was killed during an Israeli military raid targeting alleged militants in the Jenin refugee camp in September 2022.
AFP footage from the scene on Friday showed a pool of blood and bullets scattered among groceries in the family’s home.
A Palestinian eyewitness, who declined to give her name to AFP, said Israeli forces raided her neighbour’s house in the early hours and told Hazem to raise his hands, which he refused to do.
“He then attacked them with a knife, and they shot him seven times in front of his 10-year-old son. They dragged him down the stairs and took him with them,” she said.
Violence in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, has surged since the Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Since then, at least 1,098 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers, according to Palestinian figures.
