Israeli forces shoot and kill Palestinian motorist in West Bank

The Israeli army claimed in a statement that two Palestinian men tried to drive a car into soldiers at Sebastia near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, around midnight, but this could not be verified. Soldiers opened fire, killing one and wounding the other.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the young man killed as 18 year old Fawzi Makhalfeh. Palestinian media quoted the victims’ family as saying the two did not target soldiers but that they were ambushed while driving and their car was riddled with bullets.

The mayor of Sebastia, Mohammad Azem, said he was one of the first to arrive at the scene. He described a bloody carnage, with more than fifty bullet holes in the chassis. "He was a student," Azem said, "it was just so brutal."

Local media reported that Makhalfeh had just passed his high school exams and was in good spirits before the shooting.

The shooting came hours after a 17-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in the village of Umm Safa near Ramallah.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of 2023 in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, according to a tally by the Palestinian Information Center.

A far-right government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in Israel in December 2022 and has intensified near-nightly deadly raids into Palestinian areas.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 War, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Since then it has constructed hundreds of settlements there in violation of international law and refuses to withdraw from the territory and allow Palestinians to establish an independent state there.