RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“Moutaz [Mo’taz] Bani Shamsah, 23, was killed when Israeli settlers fired at a group of Palestinian demonstrators in the village of Huwara near the city of Nablus,” the ministry said in a statement.
“A Palestinian journalist was also injured — shot in the arm — while covering the demonstration,” it added.
The ministry went on to identify the injured journalist as Majdi Eshtiya, a photographer for U.S. news agency The Associated Press (AP).
Following the fatal shooting, the Israeli assailants’ car struck an ambulance, and rammed three Palestinians, causing mild wounds.
The demonstration in Huwara was organized by Palestinian activists to show support for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel who for the last month have been waging a high-profile hunger strike.
The incident took place after Israeli soldiers attacked dozens of Palestinians, marching in solidarity with the detainees, ongoing with the hunger strike they started on April 17th.
The soldiers fired gas bombs, causing many Palestinians to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, two of them, including a man, 49, were hospitalized.
The death of the Palestinian led to clashes between dozens of local youth and Israeli soldiers, who also closed Huwwara road.
Led by jailed resistance icon Marwan Barghouti, more than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners began an open-ended hunger strike on April 17 to demand better conditions.
The slain Palestinian is the second to be killed since the detainees’ hunger strike started a month ago. One May 12, the soldiers fatally shot Saba’ Nidal Obeid, 20, from Salfit, after the army assaulted nonviolent protesters in Nabi Saleh village, west of Ramallah.
The killing of the two victims brings the number of Palestinians, who were fatally shot by Israeli fire since October 1st 2015, to 312, 299 of them were instantly killed, and 13 others died later from serious wounds.
Additional report by Imemc.org