Aref Abdel Nasser Lahlouh was shot dead at an Israeli checkpoint after allegedly trying to stab an Israeli soldier.
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya on Wednesday, according to Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health named the deceased as 20-year-old as Aref Abdel Nasser Lahlouh from the Jenin refugee camp.
Palestinian media outlet Wafa said that Lahlouh was killed in front of his mother and brother. The Israeli military said Lahlouh was shot after he attempted to attack a soldier with a knife at a military checkpoint.
The latest fatality brings the number of Palestinians killed this year to 19, including three children.
According to data compiled by Middle East Eye, Israeli forces killed more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 2022 than in a single calendar year since the Second Intifada.
At least 220 people died in Israeli attacks across the occupied territories in 2022, including 48 children. Of the total death toll, 167 were from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 53 were from the Gaza Strip.
‘Collective punishment’
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli forces demolished the home of Uday Tamimi, a Palestinian man who allegedly killed a female Israeli soldier last year.
Following a shooting at a checkpoint in October, Israel embarked on a week-long operation that culminated in the death of Tamimi.
The Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian assailants’ homes has been condemned by rights groups as a form of “collective punishment” inflicted on the suspects’ families.
Israel’s new far-right government welcomed the demolition.
In a statement, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, said: “This step is very important, but not enough at all.
“We must destroy all terrorists’ homes and deport the terrorists themselves from the country.”
Source: Middle East Eye
