CAIRO — A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces 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 the town of Al-Ram and he was pronounced dead at the Palestinian Medical Complex in Ramallah.
Video 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 ran a poultry slaughterhouse in his home village of Salem, 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 Saturday, Israeli security was tight, the relative said. After spending the night with other Palestinians hoping to cross into Israel, Haroun Ishtayeh tried again 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, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, unemployment in the West Bank has surged amid an economic slowdown. Around 50 workers have been killed by Israeli fire, and more than 38,000 have been arrested, though many were later released, the official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported Sunday, citing the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions.
Gaza, West Bank violence
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 militant group Hamas in Gaza.
And in the West Bank, emergency responders said a 17-year-old Israeli girl was in serious condition and a 15-year-old 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.
Magdy writes for the Associated Press.
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