RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian and injured others on Friday during clashes at a protest against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and medics said.
The Israeli military said that 700 Palestinians had gathered in the area, south of the Palestinian city of Nablus, burning tyres and throwing rocks and petrol bombs towards troops and border police.
Israeli forces “responded with riot dispersal means”, the military said in a statement. “We are aware of reports that a Palestinian was killed and a number of Palestinians were injured.”
The man who died had been rushed to a Nablus hospital, later succumbing to his injuries, the Palestinian health ministry said. He was 38 years old, it said.
The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance service said that 21 other Palestinians had been shot by Israeli troops, most of them with rubber-tipped bullets. Others were treated for tear gas inhalation, it said in a statement.
The West Bank is among territories where Palestinians seek statehood. Violence has simmered there since U.S.-sponsored talks between the Palestinians and Israel broke down in 2014.
Palestinians have staged near-daily protests in Beita, south of Nablus, to voice anger at a nearby Israeli settler outpost, often leading to violent clashes with Israeli troops.
The settlers agreed to leave the outpost in July under an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, following weeks of demonstrations by Palestinians lighting fires that often engulfed the outpost in smoke.
But some of the outpost’s buildings remained, locked and under military guard. Palestinians, who claim the land the outpost is on, have vowed to continue their demonstrations.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Rami Ayyub, Editing by William Maclean)
