Palestinian worker shot dead by Israeli forces in West Bank

A Palestinian worker was shot dead by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry, Anadolu Agency reported.

A ministry statement said the worker was shot while trying to cross through an Israeli separation barrier to reach his workplace inside Israel.

The victim’s body is still withheld by Israeli forces at a hospital in Kefar Saba in central Israel, the statement said.

The Israeli Army Radio confirmed that soldiers had opened fire on the Palestinian man as he attempted to cross through the barrier into Israel.

In 2002, under then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel built a barrier on occupied Palestinian land with the ostensible aim of preventing Palestinian attacks inside Israel. Palestinians, for their part, refer to the barrier as the “apartheid wall”.

Thousands of Palestinians use holes in the wall to reach their workplaces in Israel to avoid crowdedness at Israeli checkpoints or due to lack of work permits in Israel.

READ: Israel’s surveillance balloon crashes in Gaza