Palestinian killed by Israel forces in Nablus

Israeli occupation forces shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank today, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, Reuters reports.

The ministry said Mohammed Assaf, 34, was a lawyer who worked for a department of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) that documents and lobbies against Israeli settlement activity on land Palestinians seek for a state.

Assaf was killed by Israeli military gunfire in Nablus, on a main street near Joseph’s Tomb, the ministry said, referring to an area which Palestinians believe to be the burial site for local religious figure, Sheikh Yousef Dweikat, while Israelis believe it belongs to the Biblical Patriarch Joseph.

An official from the PLO anti-settlement unit said Assaf had been driving his nephews to a nearby school and had stopped on the side of the road to watch events unfold when protests erupted at the tomb. Israel has been carrying out works in the area.

A military statement on West Bank operations today said an “armed suspect” was hit near Nablus. It was unclear whether it was referring to Assaf.

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Israeli troops had secured the area around the tomb while the repair work was underway. The military said hundreds of Palestinians threw stones and petrol bombs at the soldiers, who responded with live fire.

Israeli forces detained 15 “terror suspects” in and around Nablus and the city of Qalqilya today, the occupation forces said.

Palestinian health officials said seven people were wounded with live bullets in Nablus, and that two of them were in critical condition.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said today it held Israel “fully responsible for the repercussions” from the military’s actions.