Surge in Israeli forces killing West Bank Palestinians
With scores of Palestinians killed across the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, rights groups have accused Israel of giving soldiers free rein to shoot on sight while war rages in Gaza. In just over five weeks since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7, at least 190 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority's health ministry. The figure is almost as high as the ministry's toll of 208 dead for the first nine months of the year up to the start of the war. The surge in violence comes as raids by Israeli forces on Palestinian communities have multiplied in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Iyad Haddad, from the anti-occupation Israeli organisation B'Tselem, said "the Israeli army and settlers now have a free hand to fire on Palestinians in the West Bank" in an unprecedented way. Since Monday alone, the health ministry said nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces. The first was a 66-year-old taxi driver shot dead in Hebron, in the southern West Bank. "A soldier heard shots and responded" the Israeli army said, while witnesses said the man killed was not involved in any violence. Seven Palestinians were subsequently killed during an Israeli raid in Tulkarem, in the north, while a ninth was shot dead near Hebron on Tuesday morning. Last week, Israel's extreme-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who lives in a settlement himself, gave stark instructions to law enforcement. "Zero tolerance. In case of doubt, there is no doubt," he said in annexed east Jerusalem, where a Palestinian was shot after allegedly attacking Israeli police. In the West Bank, the Israeli military said they were responding to a "significant rise in terrorist attacks," with more than 550 attempted incidents since the start of the Gaza war. At least three Israelis have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, including one who was shot dead by a fellow soldier. (AFP)