TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, after the Israeli military said he attempted to illegally cross the separation barrier that separates Israel and the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the army said soldiers saw the man “sabotage” the fence outside the West Bank town of Qalqilya and “attempt to enter Israeli territory illegally”. Forces opened fire to arrest him and shot him, the statement said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said forces killed the man, identified as Nabil Ahmed Salim Ghanem from the West Bank city of Nablus, near the fence. The official Palestinian Wafa news agency said he was 53. No other details were immediately available.
Thousands of Palestinians enter Israel illegally from the West Bank through holes in the barrier, much of which is a towering wall but is also made of fences that are susceptible to damage. Many work as day laborers and earn far higher wages than those in the West Bank.
While incidents like Sunday’s are relatively rare, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian last month in similar circumstances.
Israelis have focused on the illegal entry of Palestinians in recent months following a series of attacks on Palestinians who snuck into Israel before carrying out killings. The authorities, who have long turned a blind eye, have pledged to seal the leaky parts and replace the fences with concrete walls.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians also enter Israel legally using hard-to-obtain permits.
Israel says the barrier helped stop a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks by Palestinians who slipped into the country during the 2000-2005 uprising and is still needed to prevent deadly violence .
But the barrier also repeatedly advances in the West Bank and the Palestinians see it as an illegal land grab. The International Court of Justice declared in 2004 that the barrier was “contrary to international law”.