Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces killed a man in the northern occupied West Bank on Friday.
“Bahaa Abdel-Rahman Rashid (38 years old) was killed by Israeli fire in the town of Odala, south of Nablus,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Shortly before, the Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams handled the case of a man “who suffered a critical head injury during clashes in the town of Odala near Nablus, and CPR is currently being performed on him”.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said soldiers operating in the Odala area opened fire and hit one person after “a violent confrontation occurred in which terrorists hurled rocks” in the troops’ direction.
Witness and Odala resident Muhammad al-Kharouf told AFP that Israeli troops were patrolling in Odala and threw tear gas canisters at men who were exiting the local mosque for Friday prayer.
Rashid was killed by live fire in the clashes that followed, added Kharouf, who had been inside the mosque with him.
The Israeli military said Friday it had completed a two-week counter-terrorism operation in the northern West Bank during which it killed six militants, and questioned dozens of suspects.
It told AFP that Rashid was not among the six militants killed over the past two weeks.