Palestinian man is shot and killed at a West Bank barrier near Jerusalem

By SAMY MAGDY

CAIRO (AP) — A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Sunday at a concrete barrier separating the occupied West Bank from Jerusalem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The ministry identified him as 26-year-old Imad Haroun Ishtayeh from the village of Salem, east of Nablus. It said Israeli forces shot him in a thigh in al-Ram town, and he was pronounced dead at the Palestinian Medical Complex in Ramallah.

Footage circulating online showed people carrying his body and climbing down a ladder that had been placed against the wire-topped barrier, while traffic continued to roll by and a horn blared.

Israeli police said the man tried to unlawfully enter Israel by crossing the barrier.

Ishtayeh was attempting to cross from the West Bank to Israel. Many people have been shot trying to cross the barrier, including a 44-year-old father who was killed earlier this month.

Ishtayeh previously ran a poultry slaughterhouse in his home village of Salem, financially supporting his ill father. But business deteriorated as an economic crisis hit the West Bank and he decided to cross into Israel in search of a job, a relative, Nasser Ishtayeh, told The Associated Press.

On his first attempt on Saturday, Israeli security was tight, the relative said. After spending the night with other Palestinians hoping to cross into Israel, Haroun Ishtayeh tried again on Sunday morning and was shot.

“He was directly shot with live bullets and died at the hospital,” Nasser Ishtayeh said.

An increasing number of Palestinians from the West Bank have tried to enter Israel illegally to work in recent years. Tens of thousands of Palestinians had held Israeli work permits, but access was sharply restricted after the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the war in Gaza.

Since then, unemployment in the West Bank has surged amid an economic slowdown. And around 50 workers have been killed by Israeli fire, with over 38,000 arrested though many were later released, the Palestinian official WAFA news agency reported Sunday, citing the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions.

2 are killed in Gaza and 2 are hurt in a West Bank ramming

Two Palestinians were killed and at least 10 injured when a group of people was struck near the port in Gaza City, according to Shifa hospital, which received the casualties. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.

A fragile ceasefire remains in place between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

And in the West Bank, emergency responders said a 17-year-old Israeli girl was in serious condition and a 15-year-old teen also was hurt in what police described as a ramming attack near a bus stop at Gush Etzion Junction.

Israel’s military said a soldier “eliminated the terrorist on site.” It also said a third Israeli civilian was hurt.