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Israeli forces kill Palestinian after alleged car-ramming in West Bank

June 23, 2020 at 6:27 pm

27-year-old Ahmad Erekat was shot dead by Israeli occupation soldiers on 23 June 2020 [Twitter]

Israeli forces on Tuesday shot dead a Palestinian who they said had tried to run over an officer with his car in the occupied West Bank.

The officer was lightly injured in the incident, a police spokesman said. It took place at an Israeli military checkpoint near the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem.

Palestinian officials questioned the police’s account of the man’s death. They identified him as 27-year-old Ahmad Erekat.

“This young man was killed in cold blood. Tonight was his sister’s wedding,” said Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Erekat said the man killed was his relative and that his wedding was set for next week.

READ: Investigation finds Israel soldiers shot at Palestinians simply making a U-turn

“What the occupation forces claim, that he was trying to run someone over, is a lie,” he said.

Video showed Israeli troops placing a plastic sheet over the man, who lay shirtless on the ground next to his vehicle.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet due on July 1 to begin discussing the annexation of the West Bank, territory Israel captured in a 1967 war, and that Palestinians seek for a state.

Palestinians vehemently oppose the annexation plan, as do most world powers.