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Scene. Published by Maan News

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday evening during a raid in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

According to an Israeli army spokesperson, Israeli forces, whom Israeli media said were undercover forces disguised as Palestinians, were searching for weapons in the Palestinians city when they encountered a Palestinian bearing a weapon, who shot towards the soldiers.

“Responding to the immediate threat,” the spokesperson said, the soldiers fired towards the Palestinian, killing him. The spokesperson added that no Israelis were harmed during the incident.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the slain Palestinian as 23-year-old Iyad Munir Arafat Ghaith from Hebron city.

The Ministry added that Ghaith had been transferred to the Muhammad Ali al-Muhtasib hospital after being shot, then the governmental hospital in Hebron, although it remained unclear whether Ghaith was still alive at the time.

Official Palestinian sources told Ma’an that an investigation had been opened into the case, and that an autopsy would be carried out overnight.

Israeli raids in Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps are a nightly occurrence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
According to Ma’an documentation, Ghaith is the 35th Palestinian to have been killed by an Israeli in 2017. Eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians during the same time frame.

Israeli forces have been routinely criticized for their excessive use of force and for what rights groups have termed a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death, or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner -- amid a backdrop of impunity for Israelis who committed the killings.