JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli security officer shot a Palestinian who threw a knife at him in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli military officials said, and Palestinian officials said the man had been killed.
The incident occurred at a road junction near a cluster of Israeli settlements southwest of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the military said in a statement.
“(A) community security officer spotted a suspect approaching the intersection. After the suspicion, the security officer and an IDF soldier (Israeli military) operated to stop the suspect by shooting into the air,” the statement said.
“The suspect threw a knife at the policeman, who responded with fire and neutralized the suspect,” the statement added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the man’s death, but said it had no details of his identity.
Israel captured and occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians seek the territory for a future state that would include the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Mark Heinrich)