A Palestinian worker was shot dead on Sunday (June 19th) by Israeli forces near the separation barrier in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The man was identified by the ministry as 53-year-old Nabil Ghanem. He was a worker from the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank. The Israeli army told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that it was investigating the death.
According to the official WAFA news agency, Nabil Ghanem was one of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from the West Bank who travel to Israel every day, where they receive higher salaries, particularly in the construction and agricultural sectors.
Three armed Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli army
The facts come two days after the death of three armed Palestinians, including a local commander of the Islamist movement Hamas, during clashes with the Israeli army in the Jenin sector (north of the West Bank), where the Israeli forces are stepping up operations since a series of attacks in March that killed at least nineteen people in Israel. Since these attacks, at least forty-five Palestinians, including some members of armed factions, have been killed in various incidents involving the Israeli army in the West Bank.
Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip (territory geographically separated from the occupied West Bank and under Israeli blockade), threatened the Jewish state on Friday with reprisals following the death of one of its local commanders during the operation in Jenin.
On Saturday, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, which responded with strikes on this impoverished enclave of 2.3 million inhabitants.