Israel Occupation Forces kill 18-year-old Palestinian following settlement attack
An 18-year-old Palestinian has been shot and killed by Israeli Occupation Forces, after attacking military personnel at an illegal settlement in the Occupied West Bank.
According to the Israeli Magen David Adom paramedic service and Palestinian officials, the youth — identified by the Palestinian Health Ministry as Mohammad Souf from the nearby village of Hares — killed at least two Israelis and wounded four others in his attack on the illegal settlement.
As he attempted to flee the scene while running on a highway, he was then shot by an Israeli Occupation soldier. Following the incident, troops searched the vicinity for additional suspects and Israeli forces raided Souf’s family home, where they were reported to have physically attacked his family members.
READ: Dozens of Palestinians injured by Israel forces, settler attacks
While no armed Palestinian group announced responsibility or affiliation with Souf’s attack, it was hailed by prominent resistance groups as a heroic operation. Hamas spokesman, Abdel Latif Al-Qanou, for example, stated that it demonstrated “the ability of our people to continue their revolution and defend Al-Aqsa Mosque from daily incursions”.
The socialist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called it a response “to the policy of field executions pursued by the [Israeli] Occupation and its security services against our people, the last of which will not be the Palestinian girl, Fulla Masalmeh, who was killed in Beitunia yesterday”.
The killing of Souf and his attack is the latest incident of a recent surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence throughout the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, primarily caused by the violence of settlers who have even turned against Israeli forces, at times.
Over this year alone, over 130 Palestinians have been killed, as well as at least 25 on the Israeli side, reportedly making 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005.
