According to Palestinian officials, Israel’s forces killed a Palestinian close to a Jewish shrine in West Bank. The army declared that while it escorted the Jewish pilgrims to Joseph’s Tomb, the troops had been attacked.
Israeli forces shot dead Thursday a Palestinian near a Jewish shrine in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said, as the army claimed troops had come under attack.
The statement did not elaborate on the identity of the deceased.
The Israeli army said its forces had “operated to secure the coordinated entrance of Israeli civilians to Joseph’s Tomb in the city of Nablus.”
The army regularly escorts Jewish pilgrims to the holy site, while Palestinians claim the visits are a provocation.
The army added that “armed Palestinians burned tires, hurled explosive devices and rocks, and fired toward the security forces.”
“The forces responded with live fire and riot dispersal means,” the Israeli statement said.
There was no immediate word on any casualties on the Israeli side.
The incident came amid rising tensions in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War.
The territory has recently seen a string of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli forces or settlers, and violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
Witnesses in Nablus informed that dozens of Palestinians set fire to tires and threw explosive devices and stones at soldiers escorting a group of Israelis to the religious site on the city’s outskirts.
The pilgrims were headed to the revered tomb, a site of frequent violence, believed to be the final resting place of the biblical patriarch Joseph.
Miroslava Salazar with AFP
