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Photo:
Ahmad Abd al-Jaber Muhammad Salim, 28. Published by Maan News
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QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and killed a 28-year-old Palestinian student and former prisoner during clashes on Monday in the northern occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya.

Locals identified the slain Palestinian as Ahmad Abd al-Jaber Muhammad Salim, a student at al-Quds Open University in Qalqiliya and the secretary of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) student bloc.

Salim was critically injured in the head with a live bullet during clashes in his hometown of Jayyous before he succumbed to the wounds just minutes later.

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers opened fire at Salim from less than 20 meters away, and that forces prevented Palestinian ambulances from reaching him by firing tear gas at ambulances and paramedics.

Shortly after Salim was killed, Israeli forces later closed off the main road in Qalqiliya, while Palestinian youth threw rocks at Israeli settler vehicles on the road passing by the nearby town of Azzun.

The local chapters of Palestinian national factions, including the DFLP, in Qalqiliya presented their condolences to Salim’s family, saying that the incident “is another crime added to the list of crimes committed by Israel.”

Salim is a former prisoner who spent three years in Israeli prison, and was released in 2016. Shortly after he was released he enrolled in university to continue his studies that were interrupted by his arrest.

He is the fourth Palestinian to have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year. Three of the four were 16-years-old.

Israeli forces have long been criticized for their use of excessive force against Palestinian protesters who did not pose a grave threat to soldiers at their time of death, and who could have been suppressed or detained in a non-lethal manner.