Damage is seen at a house after Israeli forces raided the town of Sarta, west of Salfit in West Bank, Palestine on June 25 [Getty]
Israeli forces shot dead a 32-year-old Palestinian man while he was still asleep during a pre-dawn military raid in the northern occupied West Bank on Thursday, with family members saying he was shot multiple times inside his bedroom.
Mustafa Taha Mustafa Al-Khatib was killed after Israeli troops forced their way into his home in the town of Sarta, west of Salfit. The raid formed part of a wider military operation across the area, during which soldiers conducted searches and arrests in several homes before reaching the southern part of the town, where Al-Khatib lived alone.
According to his uncle, Yassin Al-Khatib, who spoke to The New Arab, the soldiers broke down the door after Mustafa was slow to respond, having been asleep. As he woke and attempted to get dressed, troops stormed his bedroom and opened fire, killing him at the scene.
The Palestinian Red Crescent told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that its crews were informed upon arrival at the scene that the man had already died. Family members said residents were prevented from approaching him to provide medical assistance.
Emergency responders documented multiple gunshot wounds, including four to the chest, as well as injuries to the shoulder, neck and elbow.
Yassin Al-Khatib also accused soldiers of placing a knife near the entrance of the home after the shooting, in what the family believes was an attempt to suggest that Mustafa had posed a threat.
Mustafa’s funeral was held in Sarta on Thursday afternoon.
The incident comes just days after two Palestinian teenagers, aged 15 and 19, were killed by Israeli army fire early Monday in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, near the illegal Karmei Tzur settlement.
Al-Khatib’s killing brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank this year to 72, including 17 children.
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces continued arrest raids and military operations.
In the Nablus area, at least three young men were detained following raids on family homes in Tubas. Two minors, aged 15 and 16, were also arrested in the villages of Qaryut and Majdal Bani Fadil.
In separate incidents, two residents of Kafr Qaddum, east of Qalqilya, were arrested after a four-hour dawn raid, while five others were detained in Deir Qadis, west of Ramallah.
