Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Hebron after alleged stabbing

Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian man in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank after he allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier, Palestinian WAFA news agency said. 

The Palestinian was identified by local media as 42-year-old Moammar Arif Refa’ey al-Atrash from Hebron. 

The Palestinian health ministry said the Israeli military had informed the Palestinian District Coordinating Office of the killing, without formally identifying the victim.

Palestinians living in the area reported hearing shots and then seeing a Palestinian man motionless on the ground surrounded by soldiers before he was taken away in an Israeli ambulance.

The Israeli army said in a statement it had killed the Palestinian after he tried to stab an Israeli soldier.

“An assailant attempted to stab a soldier adjacent to the Cave of the Patriarchs, lightly injuring him. The soldier and other forces at the scene responded with live fire,” the army’s statement read. 

Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian youth in the center of herbron city / west Bank#breaking_news pic.twitter.com/jweO8nl1Er

— ‎‎‎#GreatReturnMarch (@aoroaman) October 22, 2018

A series of deadly incidents have increased tensions in the West Bank this month.

On October 15, a Palestinian was shot dead after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier in the northern West Bank, while a few days earlier, Aisha Al-Rawbi, a 47-year-old Palestinian mother of eight was killed after Israeli settlers threw stones at the car she was travelling in. 

The West Bank was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians want the territory as part of their future state. 

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies