Palestinian who opened fire, threw grenade at Israeli forces, shot dead
Ramallah, West Bank
The Israeli military on Monday (July 10) said that their forces shot an alleged Palestinian assailant who opened fire and threw a grenade at Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian officials confirmed that the man had died.
Assailant hurled grenade, fired shots: Israeli military
In a statement, the Israeli military said that its soldiers had stopped a suspicious motorist on a West Bank road and stopped him for questioning. Subsequently, he exited the vehicle and “hurled a grenade, and fired shots at the soldiers”. It added, “The soldiers responded with live fire and neutralised the assailant.”
According to the Israeli military, the incident took place near Deir Nidham village, northwest of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Palestinian authorities identify man who died
The Palestinian health ministry later confirmed the death of 33-year-old Bilal Qadah, “near the village of Deir Nidham,” without any further details. According to the Palestinian news outlet Wafa, Qadah lived in the village of Shuqba near Ramallah and was married with three children.
Meanwhile, the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine praised the 33-year-old as a “heroic martyr” and said that he had delivered a message of defiance to the occupying army, according to local media reports.
A report by Al Jazeera citing Ma’an news agency said that the Israeli forces did not allow Red Crescent ambulances to reach Qadah after he was shot and no assistance was reportedly given to him as he lay bleeding on the ground.
Rise of violence in West Bank
The recent incident also follows a week of violence after Israel conducted its biggest military raid in 20 years in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin which resulted in the death of 12 people including at least five Palestinian fighters, as well as one Israeli soldier.
Israel claimed that the two-day operation, which reportedly ended on July 5, was conducted after the Jenin camp had become a hotbed of terrorism, which has claimed the lives of several Israeli citizens over the past 18 months.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Tel Aviv witnessed a car ramming attack when a Palestinian rammed a pickup truck into pedestrians and went on a stabbing rampage and wounded at leasteight people. The attack was later claimed by the Hamas militant group as a retaliation for the Jenin raid.
On Friday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants after a firefight erupted during a raid on the occupied West Bank of Nablus. The Palestinian health ministry later reported the deaths of “two martyrs and three injured as a result of the occupation (Israeli) aggression on Nablus.”
According to the data compiled by news agency AFP from official sources from both sides, this year, at least 195 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed.
(With inputs from agencies)
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