Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man near Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday, saying they suspected he was carrying a weapon. The police said the man was carrying “a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and ran away when ordered to stop. They chased him on foot and opened fire. "No weapon was found at the scene after the area was searched," the police statement said. The Palestinians' official news agency Wafa identified the dead man as Eyad Hallak, a resident of the Wadi Joz neighbourhood of east Jerusalem with special needs. Israeli soldiers shot and injured another Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, Wafa said. The 31-year-old man was shot at the Jabara military checkpoint near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to the Red Crescent. The shootings came a day after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the West Bank who they said had tried to ram them with his vehicle. No Israelis were wounded in either incident. Soldiers then fired live rounds and rubber bullets to disperse a protest against the shooting, which took place near the village of Nabi Saleh west of Ramallah, Wafa said, citing local sources. Tensions have risen in recent weeks as Israel has pressed ahead with plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank in line with President Donald Trump's Middle East plan, which strongly favours Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority said last week that it was no longer bound by past agreements with Israel and the United States and was cutting off all ties, including longstanding security co-ordination. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 war along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. The Trump plan would allow the Palestinians to establish a capital on the outskirts of the city, beyond Israel's separation barrier. It would grant them limited statehood in a cluster of enclaves surrounded by Israel.
