RAMALLAH: Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the army reporting the man had tried to carry out an attack.

The Israeli military said a “terrorist” had been “neutralised”, after reporting “an attempted car-ramming attack” near the Gitai Avissar junction in the Salfit area in the north of the occupied territory.

“The terrorist was holding a knife, and the armed forces neutralised him,” the statement said, adding that no one else was wounded in the incident.

The Palestinian statement said that Ahmed Yacoub Taha, 39, was “killed by occupation bullets near Salfit”.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War, when it also seized east Jerusalem.

Violence in the territory since January has seen the deaths of 99 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.

These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023