Mass protests against Palestinian's death in police custody

Hundreds of demonstrators marched through the West Bank city to protest the killing of Ahmed Halawa, who was severely beaten by security personnel before losing consciousness and later dying.

"Security forces detained Ahmed Izz Halawa during a complicated and delicate security operation in Nablus," Adnan Al Dmairi, the spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's security services, said in a statement.

Halawa was the alleged ringleader behind a gun-attack on security forces in Nablus last week that left two Palestinian policemen dead.

He was arrested by police overnight and taken to the city's Jneid prison, Nablus governor Akram Rajub told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

"We'll examine the incident and draw lessons from it," Rajub said, while Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah promised a full investigation, into the “rare” incident.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and is a bitter rival of the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank, condemned Halawa's "execution".

It said it showed "the bloody nature of the Palestinian Authority's security services."

Amnesty International has accused Palestinian security forces of routinely mistreating prisoners, with torture common and committed with impunity.

Under the 1993 Oslo accords with Israel, Palestinian police are only authorised to operate in 18 percent of the occupied West Bank, encompassing most of the major Palestinian towns, including Nablus.

The northern West Bank has seen a number of Palestinian police raids in recent months. The area has witnessed factional infighting within the ruling Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.