Description

Photo taken from social media. Published by Maan
A photo of Abed Hamad shared on social media. Published by Maan
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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday after he allegedly attempted to ram them with his car in the occupied West Bank village of Silwad northeast of Ramallah.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that "during violent riots, an assailant attempted to ram his vehicle into soldiers."

The military forces responded with live fire, killing the Palestinian on site, the spokesperson said. No Israelis were injured in the incident.
The Palestinian was identified as Abed Raed Abdullah Hamad, although this was not initially confirmed.

Around an hour before the attack, Hamad posted a photo of his mother and father on Facebook with a caption reading: "The two most beautiful [people] in the world, my soul remains with them.

"Dad, Mom, may God protect you, keep you safe, and keep you precious on this Friday. ... Mom don't cry over me, I need your prayers. Dad, may you be satisfied with me; you have brought up a man."

Another Palestinian was shot dead earlier Friday after he stabbed and injured two Israeli officers stationed at Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

The incident came the morning after an Israeli was killed in a stab attack carried out by two 14-year-old Palestinians in the Shaare Benjamin industrial zone, north of Jerusalem and south of Ramallah.
The two boys stabbed two Israelis in the popular Rami Levi supermarket before being shot and seriously injured. They were both from the Ramallah-area town of Beituniya.

Unrest has continued since October in the occupied Palestinian territory, marked by small-scale attacks carried out predominantly on Israeli military targets by Palestinian individuals.

Attacks have often been followed by wide scale closures of Palestinian roads and towns by the Israeli military.

The recent violence has left over 170 Palestinians killed, the majority shot dead while carrying out attacks while others were killed during clashes or under disputed circumstances.

More than 25 Israelis have been killed during the same time period.
Two Palestinians were killed in Silwad -- site of Friday’s second reported attack -- during the month of December, also after reportedly attempting to run over Israeli soldiers as clashes were occurring in the village.