Hundreds mourn Palestinian youth killed by Israel in West Bank

By Awad Rajoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Hundreds of Palestinians mourned a youth killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.

A 27-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces in the city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry. The circumstances of his death were not yet clear.

Hundreds of mourners participated in a funeral held for the young man before he was laid to rest in his hometown of Azzun, east of Qalqilya.

Speaking to the state-run Palestine TV, Qalqilya Governor Rafe Rawajbeh termed the killing as an “assassination.”

“The young man was previously detained several times by the Israeli army and was being pursued,” he said.

"In recent days, he received a call from an Israeli intelligence officer, who threatened him with assassination if he did not turn himself in,” Rawajbeh said.

There was no comment from the Israeli military on the allegation.

Tensions have been running high across Palestinian territories since the beginning of April amid repeated Israeli arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank and daily settler incursions into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara