IDF soldiers shoot, kill Palestinian during arrest raid

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man during a botched arrest in the West Bank on Thursday, a hospital official said, in the second such incident in 24 hours.

Falah Abu Maria, 50, was shot in the chest in his home in the village of Beit Omar near the southern city of Hebron, neighbors said.

He had run downstairs to see what was happening when troops stormed in to arrest his son Mohammed, they added.

The hospital said that his 24-year-old son was being treated for a gunshot wound to the leg.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that during the raid to detain Mohammed, wanted on suspicion of security offenses, “forces were attacked by a violent mob.”

She said that one man attacked a soldier who in response shot him in a lower limb.

According to Hebrew media reports, Abu Maria had attacked the soldiers.

The IDF soldiers were pelted with stones by relatives and locals around the scene of the arrest, and one soldier was choked, the reports said.

The army spokesperson said she could not confirm the victim’s identity but acknowledged that the wanted suspect was not taken into custody.

“As the forces left the scene they were attacked once again by a violent mob who hurled rocks and bricks at them,” she added. “The forces responded with fire towards the main instigator.”

She said that a soldier was “slightly injured” by the stone-throwing.

On Wednesday, Palestinian medical and security sources said Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man near the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Mohammed Alawneh, 22, was killed in clashes that followed an Israeli arrest raid in the village of Birqin, west of Jenin, the sources said.

According to Israel Radio, a mob of Palestinians met incoming IDF soldiers with a hail of Molotov cocktails and rocks. Alawneh was shot in the chest and died shortly after arriving at a hospital in Jenin, the sources said.