JERUSALEM // Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian man reportedly carrying a bomb near a West Bank checkpoint yesterday, after a week in which encounters with Israel's military left three Palestinians dead.
Israel's army radio said the man was holding a pipe bomb and he was ordered shot near the Bekaot checkpoint, east of Nablus, after refusing to heed commands to stop.
Witnesses saw the man, identified as Jihad Samudi, running near the checkpoint shouting "Allahu Akbar", AFP reported yesterday.
While some Israeli media reported that the man was killed in the incident, Nablus' governor, Jibrin al Bakri, said the Israeli military had informed Palestinian officials that he was in their custody and being treated for serious wounds.
"The Israelis are treating him because they are the ones who shot him," said Mr al Bakri.
He was unaware of reports that the man had been carrying a bomb, saying that "no one else knows what they [the Israelis] are doing with this matter right now". Tensions with Israel have elevated in the past week as Palestinian officials raise questions about the Israeli military's rules of engagement.
Last Sunday, Mohammed Daraghmeh, in his early 20s, was killed by Israeli gunfire at Bekaot checkpoint for allegedly driving in an unauthorised lane and failing to heed soldiers' demands to stop. Initial results of the military investigation into the incident found that Israeli soldiers had fired despite observing Mr Daraghmeh as unarmed and only carrying a "glass bottle".
Mr al Bakri described Israeli soldiers as having itchy trigger fingers.
"We've asked the Israelis many times to warn their soldiers not to be so quick to regard the Palestinians at checkpoints as enemies," he said.
On Friday, commandos from an Israeli military unit mistakenly killed Omar Qawasmeh, 66, as he slept at his home in Hebron. They were reportedly pursuing Hamas militant Wael al Bitar, the intended target who lived a floor below and was arrested shortly afterwards.
Israel's military expressed regret over Qawasmeh's death, but Kamel Hemeid, Hebron's governor, criticised Israel's policy of engaging suspected militants as "shoot first and ask questions later".
"From our initial investigation, it seems like the Israelis stormed that house with the intention to kill," he said. "Maybe they didn't want that particular person to be killed, but, in any case, they wanted to kill somebody there, and they did. I mean, they shot this man 13 times, and in front of his family."
Meanwhile, on Friday, several hundred gathered in the West Bank village of Bi'ilin to mark the death of Jawaher Rahmah, 36, the previous week.
Physicians at a hospital in Ramallah said she died after ingesting large amounts of tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers to disperse those who attended what have become weekly demonstrations in Bi'ilin against Israel's separation barrier.
Israel's military has claimed that Rahmah died as a result of pre-existing medical conditions. It is reportedly investigating her death.