Israeli undercover soldiers shot and killed late Wednesday a Palestinian young man near Kiryat Arba settlement in the southern West Bank city of al-Khalil.
Hebrew media sources claimed that Israeli soldiers wearing civilian attire were searching for weapons in the Palestinians city when they encountered a Palestinian bearing a weapon.
“Responding to the immediate threat” the spokesperson for Israeli army said the soldiers fired at the Palestinian killing him instantly. The spokesperson added that no Israelis were harmed during the incident.
The PIC reporter identified the slain Palestinian as 26-year-old Iyad Ghaith from al-Khalil city.
Ghaith is the 326th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces since the outbreak of Jerusalem Intifada in 2015.
Israeli forces have been routinely criticized for their excessive use of force and for what rights groups have termed a “shoot-to-kill” policy against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner — amid a backdrop of impunity for Israelis who committed the killings.
