Ramallah, The Indonesia Post – A 19-year-old Palestinian teenager was killed in an Israeli settler attack in Huwara, the occupied West Bank, on Friday, the Palestinian authority said.
It is not yet known whether the student named Labib Dumaidi, who was the victim, was shot dead by Israeli settlers or by soldiers.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing local sources, reported that a group of settlers entered the small town and damaged a number of houses and other buildings.
One of them shot Dumaidi dead, WAFA said.
On the other hand, the Israeli military said dozens of settlers and townspeople threw stones at each other.
Israeli soldiers shot at a Palestinian who threw bricks at them and “hit the target”, the military said.
A spokesman said the Israeli military was not aware of any settlers firing weapons during the clashes.
According to testimony collected by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, Dumaidi’s family said the victim was shot in the chest on the roof of their house while driving away settlers who threw stones at the family’s house and car.
The Palestinian Foreign Minister condemned Dumaidi’s killing as a “heinous crime” and called for international intervention to stop the armed settler militia.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has increased in recent months.
This phenomenon occurred when Jewish settlements continued to expand and US-backed peace efforts, which had lasted almost 10 years, reached a dead end.
During January-August 2023, an average of three incidents occurred per day involving settlers.
This figure is the highest since the United Nations (UN) began recording such data in 2006.
Huwara is surrounded by Jewish settlements that separate Palestinians from their land.
Its location on the main road connecting Nablus City with Ramallah and Jerusalem means that the city is often the scene of clashes between Palestinians and Israelis.
On Thursday, a Palestinian gunman shot at a car in Huwara carrying an Israeli family, but its three passengers were not injured.
Israeli troops then looked for the perpetrator and killed him.
The incident came hours after two Palestinian men and five Israeli soldiers were injured in separate clashes. (mhn/bbs)
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