NABLUS: The Palestinian health ministry reported that Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank in what the army referred to as a “stabbing attack.”
Arref Abdel Nasser Arref Lahlouh, 22, was killed “by Israeli gunfire” near the Palestinian city of Qalqilya, according to the ministry.
Lahlou “attempted to carry out a stabbing attack,” according to the Israeli army, near the Jewish settlement of Kdumim.
“The assailant arrived at an IDF military post armed with a knife and attempted to stab an IDF soldier on the spot.”
The army added that Lahlouh was “neutralized by the soldiers in the area.”
This year, 19 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, the majority of them by Israeli forces, including Lahlou.
Separately, on Wednesday, soldiers destroyed the residence of Udai Tamimi, who shot and killed military policewoman Noa Lazar at a checkpoint in October, by entering the Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
After a 10-day manhunt, Israeli forces killed Tamimi. When he was shot, he was carrying out yet another attack at a settlement in the West Bank.
People whom Israel accuses of attacking Israelis regularly have their homes destroyed.
Because it has the potential to make non-combatants, including children, homeless, human rights activists claim that the policy amounts to collective punishment.
However, Israel claims that the practice prevents some Palestinians from carrying out attacks.
The number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank last year was 150, the most since the United Nations began keeping records in 2005.
According to a tally compiled by the AFP from official sources, at least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians were killed throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories.
