Israeli soldier kills Palestinian in West Bank as violence rises
Deadly shooting came hours after an Israeli police officer shot dead another Palestinian man near the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.
An Israeli soldier shot dead a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank hours after a policeman killed a medical student at the Al-Aqsa base in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority identified the man killed in the West Bank on Saturday as Mohammad Ra’ed Baradiyah, 24.
Witnesses told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that Baradiyah was shot in his car near the town of Beit Ummar and that medics were denied access to the injured man.
“Baradiyah continued to bleed helplessly until he died of his injuries,” the agency reported.
The Israeli army said Baradiyah was shot dead after he drove his car into a group of soldiers. Israeli medics said three people were injured, two of them seriously.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli police said they shot and killed another Palestinian man at the Chain Gate, an entry point to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinian worshipers at the entrance to the site said police shot 26-year-old Mohammad Khaled al-Osaibi at least 10 times after trying to stop them from harassing a woman on her way to the holy site.
However, police claimed that al-Osaibi attempted to take a gun from an officer and fired it in a scuffle.
Al-Osaibi’s family has contested the police report of his death and is demanding to see CCTV footage.
“He is a polite, kind man from a family of doctors who went to Al-Aqsa for spiritual reasons,” said his cousin Fahad al-Osaibi. “If you want us to believe he tried to attack the police, show us the security footage.”
Al-Osaibi’s family said he was a doctor who recently passed his exams and obtained his medical degree in Romania. He returned to his hometown a month ago, his cousin said, and took care of his ailing father while he worked to get certified in Israel.
Raam, a political party representing Israel’s Palestinian minority, also rejected the police’s account of the events and called for an investigation. Meanwhile, the umbrella organization representing the Palestinian citizens of Israel announced a “general strike and day of mourning” on Sunday following the “execution” of al-Osaibi.
The incident in Jerusalem on the outskirts of the Al Aqsa mosque complex, the third holiest site in Islam, came at a peak of Muslim visitors for the holy month of Ramadan. The compound, revered by the Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the most sacred site in Judaism.
Friction at Al Aqsa has led to violence in recent years, including an 11-day Israeli assault on Gaza that killed more than 200 Palestinians in 2021.
The shootings also come against a backdrop of simmering tensions following months of violence in areas of Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Israeli forces have killed at least 92 Palestinians since the beginning of the year, according to the Health Ministry.
Palestinian attackers killed some 14 Israelis during the same period, including members of the security forces and civilians and a Ukrainian citizen, the AFP news agency said.