Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian man and injured three others on Wednesday in violent clashes in Al-Aroub refugee camp on the West Bank, some 7 miles north of the city of Hebron, the Palestinian Health Ministry and eyewitnesses said Wednesday.
The ministry said in a statement that Osama Adawi, 18, was killed after he was shot in the stomach by an Israeli soldier Wednesday afternoon; the three wounded Palestinian demonstrators sustained gunshots to their legs. Eyewitnesses said the Israeli force entered the camp to arrest protesters who were throwing rocks at vehicles on a nearby road, and that violence broke out between dozens of stone-throwers and the soldiers, who fired tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, and live ammunition to disperse the crowd.
Clashes broke out across the West Bank and east Jerusalem on Wednesday, as Israeli troops continued to search Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp for the Palestinian who killed an Israeli soldier, 18-year-old Sgt. Noa Lazar, and seriously injured a civilian security guard in a shooting attack on a checkpoint on Saturday.
On Wednesday morning, Israel imposed a partial closure on Nablus in the northern West Bank during a manhunt to find two Palestinians suspected of killing an Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. Ido Baruch, 21, on Tuesday outside the settlement of Shavei Shomron.
Israeli military and police forces faced violent Palestinian protests in the east Jerusalem neighborhoods of Issawiya, Silwan, A-Tur, Kafr Aqab, Ras al-Amud, Jabel Mukaber, Sur Baher, and Beit Hanina, as well several West Bank locations. Palestinian rioters threw rocks and Molotov cocktails and launched fireworks at troops, passing civilian cars, and into the homes of Jews, and set tires and garbage dumpsters alight.
By Thursday morning, most of the clashes had ended and quiet was restored, but Palestinian groups in Jerusalem have called for a “day of rage” on Friday.
More than 100 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis have been killed in violent clashes and attacks in Israel and on the West Bank this year, according to health and security authorities on both sides, making it the deadliest year for the conflict since 2016.