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Mohammad Al-'Aasy - facebook.com/Bilin.village

Israeli forces search the cave where the man was shot. (MaanImages)

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by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

[Tuesday Morning October 22, 2013] Palestinian sources have reported that a young Palestinian man was shot and killed during armed clashes with Israeli soldiers in Kufur Ni’ma village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, has reported that Mohammad ‘Aasy, 24 years of age, is one of its fighters.

The Israeli military said that Al-‘Aasy was hiding in a cave near the village, and that he exchanged fire with the soldiers who eventually shot him dead. The army did not report any casualties among its soldiers.

Israeli sources said that the soldiers invaded Ni’ma village during late night hours, in an attempt to kidnap Palestinian resistance fighters, and that one of the fighters escaped, but the army pursed him and managed to arrest him.

The sources added that Al-‘Aasy was shot dead after he entered a cave near Ni’ma village, and that he opened fire at the soldiers who managed to surround him, and killed him several hours later.

The Israeli army said soldiers managed to arrest one Palestinian, and took him to an interrogation facility.

Eyewitnesses said that more than 15 Israeli military vehicles, and a military bulldozer, invaded the area, imposed curfew forcing the residents under house arrest, and initiated a search campaign in an area that became isolated by the Annexation Wall.

The eyewitnesses that that, approximately at seven in the morning, soldiers kidnapped several Palestinians, some identified as Mohammad Ibrahim Nasr, William Abu ‘Aady, and Abdullah Suleiman, all from Ni’ma village, and took them to a military base in the area.

Clashes took place between the invading soldiers and dozens of local youths who hurled stones and empty bottles at them, while the army fired gas bombs, concussion grenades, and rubber-coated metal bullets at the residents and several homes in the area.

Soldiers also prevented the residents, including schoolchildren, from leaving their homes, and completely isolated the area.

Local sources in Bil'in village, have reported that several Palestinians, including a two-month old infant, suffered the effects of teargas inhalation.

They added, that dozens of soldiers invaded the village, and clashes with local youths.

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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Thousands of mourners on Wednesday participated in the funeral of a man shot dead a day earlier by Israeli forces near Ramallah.

Muhammad Assi, 28, from Beit Liqya was killed Tuesday when Israeli soldiers stormed an area between the West Bank villages of Bilin and Kufr Nemeh, sparking a gunfight which ended at a cave, Palestinian witnesses and medics said.

The funeral procession started at the Palestine Medical Center in Ramallah and Assi was then transferred to Beit Liqya where he was wrapped in Palestinian Islamic Jihad flags.

Dozens of cars followed the procession and thousands of people carried the body while chanting slogans calling for revenge and resistance against Israel's occupation.

Mourners also chanted for an end to negotiations with Israel.

Islamic Jihad confirmed Assi was one of its militants in a statement on its website which said he had been "assassinated" by Israel's army in Kufr Nemeh, while Gaza's Hamas rulers offered condolences.

The Israeli army confirmed the incident and claimed Assi was responsible for the November 2012 bombing of a Tel Aviv bus that wounded 29 people.

Israeli forces have killed at least 20 people in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip this year.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A young Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops in a cave between the villages of Bilin and Kafr Nima in northwest Ramallah on early Tuesday morning.

Large numbers of Israeli military vehicles had raided an agricultural area in the early morning and subsequently clashed with Muhammad Assi, a 24-year-old Islamic Jihad activist, who had barricaded himself in a cave amidst fields.

Assi was killed following a shoot-out with Israeli forces that lasted a few hours.

During the raid, Israeli bulldozers razed olive orchards belonging to Palestinians in the area, according to eyewitnesses from Kafr Nima. The soldiers also set fire to a number of agricultural fields.

The Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israeli special forces entered in Kafr Nima in order to arrest two Palestinians in the early hours of Tuesday morning. One of the suspects tried to flee and was apprehended following a short chase, according to the Israeli report, while the other barricaded himself in a cave and clashed with the Israeli soldiers.

"The soldiers encircled him for hours and he was eventually shot dead," the Israeli newspaper reported.

Locals in Kafr Nima confirmed that Israeli forces stormed the village and ransacked several homes before they detained three Palestinian men. The three detained Palestinian men were identified as Hamad Ibrahim Nasr, William Abu Aadi and Abdullah Suleiman Abu Aadi.

Young men from the village clashed with the invading Israeli forces, pelting them with rocks and empty bottles during the raid.

Israeli forces in return fired rubber-coated bullets at the protestors and showered the area with tear gas canisters and stun grenades.

An Israeli army statement released Tuesday morning said that the operation had "aimed to detain wanted terrorist Mohamed Aatzi," and that he was "reportedly killed in an exchange of fire."

The statement said that Assi was "one of the planners of the terror attack which took place last year on a bus in Tel Aviv during Operation Pillar of Defense," alluding to a bus bombing that occurred during Israel's bombardment on the Gaza Strip in Nov. 2012, which killed around 170 Palestinians.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.