Jerusalem24 – 17-year-old Haitham Hani Mubarak was shot dead by Israeli forces close to the village of Beitin in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate shortly after midnight last night.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health officially announced the death of the teenager at 8.30 this morning after the Israeli General Authority for Civil Affairs informed them they had seized and were withholding his body; however his identity was only revealed at 12 noon.
An Israeli army spokesman claimed that “a young man attacked an Israeli soldier with a hammer, and the soldier responded by shooting and neutralizing the suspect who wounded the soldier in the face.”
The Israeli spokesman claimed that a knife was found in the young man’s possession.
Local sources said that Israeli forces reinforced their presence at the entrance to the village of Beitin, stopped locals’ vehicles, impeded their passage at the “Beit El” checkpoint, and checked their ID cards.
The Israeli army has been conducting near-daily raids in the West Bank since the beginning of the year during which 85 Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli soldiers; two were run over by settler cars; one was stabbed by an Israeli settler; and one was severely beaten by Israeli forces and left to die, according to figures released today by the Ministry of Health.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, six Palestinians were arrested in overnight raids on Jenin refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 17 people for injuries following a separate raid by the Israeli army in Nablus, including 12 cases of tear gas inhalation including a journalist, four injuries caused by rubber-coated metal bullets, as well as one person who sustained burns.
In December 2021, the Israeli military changed its rules of engagement, explicitly allowing its soldiers to shoot-to-kill Palestinians in the West Bank even if they are fleeing and presenting no danger.
