Israeli settler kills Palestinian youth in WB

The young Palestinian man, identified as Alaa Khalil Qaysiyah, died of his critical wounds on Friday after he was shot by an Israeli settler in the Tana Omrim settlement, south of Hebron, according to Palestinian media reports.

Palestine’s Ma’an news agency cited the settler as claiming that the 28-year-old Palestinian youth was trying to carry out a stabbing attack inside the illegal settlement.

Israeli media said sirens sounded in the Tana Omrim settlement on the lands of the al-Dhahiriya town on suspicion of an infiltration into the settlement.

Israeli forces were reported to have arrived at the settlement and launched a search for other individuals who might have accompanied the young man.

Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others have been arrested.

Local and international rights groups have condemned Israel’s excessive use of force and “shoot-to-kill policy” against Palestinians.

More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The international community views the settlements – hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since Tel Aviv’s occupation of the territory in 1967 – as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on the occupied territories.