RAMALLAH, April 22 (Xinhua) -- A young Palestinian man was killed Wednesday by Israeli settlers' gunfire near Ramallah, in the central West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In a press statement, the ministry said that 25-year-old Awda Atef Awawdeh died after being shot by settlers during an attack on the village of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah.
Palestinian security sources told Xinhua that a group of Israeli settlers, under the protection of Israeli army forces, attacked the village and opened fire, killing Awawdeh.
Israeli forces arrested 40 people from the village during the raid, the sources said.
The incident came a day after two Palestinians, identified as 14-year-old Aws al-Naasan and 32-year-old Jihad Abu Naim, were killed by settlers in the village of Al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah.
According to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israeli forces and settlers carried out 1,819 attacks during March, with 1,322 attacks by the army and 497 by settlers.
Israel seized control of the West Bank after the 1967 war and established settlements there, which the international community considers illegal.
More than half a million Israeli settlers live in the West Bank alongside approximately 3.4 million Palestinians, and clashes between the two sides frequently escalate into violence. ■
