NAZARETH, (PIC)
A Palestinian young man in his 30s was shot and killed by an Israeli police officer while allegedly trying to steal his weapon in the southern city of Beersheba on Monday morning.
The victim was identified as Murshed Rashad Abdul-Hay from Tira City in 1948 occupied Palestine.
According to Israeli police and media claims, the incident began early Monday when a resident of the central city of Tira threatened to commit suicide, then stole a traffic police squad car, triggering a car chase.
After eluding the forces in the area of Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center, the young man abandoned the vehicle in a parking lot and continued on foot, the Ynet news site reported.
A short while later, the Palestinian started a disturbance in the streets, attacking passersby and shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest), a police spokesperson told journalists.
Police forces arrived and tried to arrest the man, using a taser in an attempt to subdue him. During the arrest, the man attacked one of the officers and attempted to steal the weapon of another, according to the police spokesperson.
An officer at the scene then fired a warning shot into the air and another at the man’s leg, police said, adding without further details that the suspect was taken for medical treatment, during which he was pronounced dead.
Following the incident, southern district police commander Amir Cohen instructed the commander of the Negev region police force to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Far-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised the Beersheba police officers for the way they handled the incident.
“This is exactly how one should act — with vigilance and composure,” the far-right minister wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Our police officers toil day and night to provide security to the citizens of Israel.”
