JERUSALEM – Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man today when clashes broke out during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank, official sources on both sides said.
The Palestinian health ministry said “a citizen was killed by live bullets in the chest in Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem” in the southern West Bank near Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group identified the dead man as Omar Manaa, 22, and said 14 others were arrested in overnight raids across the West Bank.
Israel’s army said its troops opened fire during the arrest operation targeting alleged members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
“A hit was identified,” the army added in its statement, without confirming an individual death.
The PFLP group, which has Marxist roots, has been banned by Israel and is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and European Union.
In the northern West Bank, Israeli forces arrested Yahya al-Saadi, “a senior member of the Islamic Jihad suspected of terror activity,” the army said.
At least 146 Palestinians and 26 Israelis have been killed so far this year across the West Bank, Israel and the contested city of Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Those killed amid the surging violence in recent months include Israeli soldiers, Palestinian militants and civilians on both sides.
