TUBAS, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli troops killed a Palestinian during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday in what his family called an unprovoked shooting but the army described as return fire.
As part of near-nightly security sweeps mounted after a series of lethal Palestinian street attacks in Israeli cities, the army carried out arrests and searches in several locations.
The victim, Younis Tayeh, 21, had left the family home in Tubas village to try to find his uncle after hearing that he had been detained, Tayeh’s twin brother Hussein told Reuters.
“I asked him not to cross the street, as a soldier could be taking aim. As soon as he crossed the street he (a soldier) immediately shot him,” Tayeh said. “I tried to reach him but he (the soldier) aimed fired two bullets at me, so I couldn’t go out.”
The army said in a statement that an improvised explosive device was thrown and shots fired at soldiers, who returned fire. There were no Israeli casualties. One person had been arrested in Tubas and 24 elsewhere, it said.
The West Bank, among territories Palestinians hope will be part of an eventual independent state, has seen waves of violence involving Palestinians, the Israeli army and Jewish settlers since U.S.-sponsored statehood talks with Israel broke down in 2014.
(Reporting by Raneen Sawafta, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta, Writing by Dan Williams and Angus MacSwan)
