JERUSALEM – The Israeli military said Saturday that a suspected militant who entered a settlement in the occupied West Bank carrying a knife had been killed, but did not say who was responsible.
“Earlier today, a terrorist who infiltrated the community of Negohot in Judea and Samaria was identified and eliminated in a rapid response,” the military said, using the biblical term for the West Bank.
In an earlier statement, the military had described the suspect as having been “neutralised”.
The military did not immediately respond to AFP’s question about who was responsible for killing the suspected militant.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said it had received notification of the killing and identified the victim as 25-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Suwaiti.
The military did not report any other injuries during the incident.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,061 Palestinians – many of them militants, but also scores of civilians – in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.
Official Israeli figures say at least 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period. AFP
