West Bank: Palestinian killed near Ramallah amid Israeli settler attacks

A Palestinian man was killed early Sunday after being shot by Israeli police north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, as settler attacks and Israeli military raids continued across several areas, resulting in injuries, arrests, and damage to property.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said it had been informed by the Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs of the killing of Ammar Majed Hassan Hijazi, 34, from the city of Nablus. Hijazi was shot in the Ayoun al-Haramiyah area north of Ramallah.

Local sources said Israeli occupation police opened live fire on a Palestinian vehicle near the town of Turmus Ayya on Sunday morning.

According to the sources, police ordered the driver to stop, but he attempted to reverse the vehicle, prompting officers to fire around seven bullets without prior warning. Israeli forces then prevented anyone from approaching the vehicle until his death was announced.

The killing came amid continued settler violence across the West Bank.

Local sources reported that settlers attempted at dawn to set fire to vehicles in the town of Atara, north of Ramallah, but residents intervened and prevented the fires from spreading. After the settlers withdrew, racist slogans were found spray-painted on the walls of homes.

In a separate incident, an elderly Palestinian woman was assaulted on Saturday on the outskirts of the town of Birzeit, north of Ramallah, after settler shepherds entered the area surrounding her home and attacked her.

Residents intervened to repel the settlers, and the woman was transferred for medical treatment. Four Palestinians were injured, including the woman and her son, while three others were arrested.

The Jerusalem Governorate said settlers attacked shepherds on Sunday morning in the Bedouin community of al-Hathroura, east of occupied Jerusalem, chasing them and preventing them from grazing their livestock.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent said its crews treated several Palestinians injured in settler attacks. In Hebron, a 50-year-old man was hospitalised after being severely beaten near the town of Bani Naim. In Nablus, three Palestinians were injured in a settler assault in the town of Beit Furik, including a 70-year-old man.

The Red Crescent also said its teams treated a Palestinian worker who was shot with live ammunition below the knee after crossing the separation wall in the town of al-Ram, north of Jerusalem. He was received at the Qalandiya checkpoint and transferred to hospital.

Commenting on the escalation, Hassan Malihat, general supervisor of the Al-Baidar human rights organisation, told The New Arab's sister edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that armed settlers carried out a violent attack on Saturday evening targeting farmers in the Beit Furik plain.

He said the injured were transferred to a local medical centre, while one critically injured farmer was moved to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus.

Malihat added that Israeli occupation forces expelled activists from the Khallat al-Sidra area near the town of Mikhmas, northeast of Jerusalem, and issued a military order closing the area for a full year.

He also said settlers brought a flock of sheep into the vicinity of homes in the village of Kisan, east of Bethlehem, in what he described as a provocative move aimed at encroaching on residents’ land and homes.

Other settler groups, he said, stormed villages east of Yatta in southern Hebron and communities south of Nablus, roaming around homes under the protection of Israeli occupation forces and causing fear among residents.

Separately, local sources said Israeli forces carried out arrest and raid operations overnight and at dawn on Sunday across several areas of the occupied West Bank, arresting a number of Palestinians.

Meanwhile, groups of settlers stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday under the protection of Israeli forces, conducting provocative tours and performing illegal Talmudic rituals.