The Israeli army killed a man in an attack in the West Bank – KGET 17

JERUSALEM (AP) – A Palestinian was killed and at least seven were wounded Monday during a shootout with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian officials said.

It was the latest death in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that shows no signs of slowing.

The Israeli army said it carried out overnight raids across the West Bank and that soldiers came under fire during the arrest of two men suspected of killing an Israeli soldier in October. The army said that two wanted men were injured in a shootout with soldiers and arrested.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that Amir Bustami (21) was killed in an attack by the Israeli army. It is not clear if he was involved in the shooting.

Tensions have been rising for months as Israel has carried out nighttime raids in the West Bank, which were prompted by a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis last spring. About 30 people were killed by Palestinians in Israel in 2022, and at least 11 people in previous attacks in 2023.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem last year, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem. At least 46 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the beginning of this year.

Israel says most of those killed were militants, but that others – including youths protesting the incursion and other people not involved in the fighting – were also killed.

Israel says the military strikes are intended to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks, while Palestinians see them as further entrenching Israel’s open, 55-year occupation.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war, territories the Palestinians claim as their hoped-for independent state.

Earlier on Monday, Israel’s military said an aircraft bombed a rocket production site and military installations in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants fired four rockets into southern Israel overnight. There are currently no reports of casualties.

The Gaza-Israel border has been largely calm in recent months, but there has been occasional rocket fire and airstrikes as tensions between Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have risen.