Israeli army fire kills Palestinian man while escorting settlers into Nablus shrine

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian resident of Nablus near a shrine in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in the latest bloodshed of violence. 

The months of fighting with rising fatalities have shown no signs of abating and have become the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades.

Thursday's shooting occurred as Israeli forces escorted Israeli settlers, including the Israeli police chief and the head of the local Jewish settler council, to a site known as the biblical Joseph's Tomb in the Palestinian city of Nablus.

The shrine has long been a flashpoint as Israeli forces have continued to "storm" the area, with Nablus has also become a central point in the current escalation.

During the storming, the Israeli military claimed that suspects opened fire and threw explosives, rocks and burning tires at troops, who returned fire.

Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the man killed by Israeli fire as 19-year-old Badr al-Masri. It reported that three others were treated for wounds.

Fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank intensified early last year when Israel launched near-nightly and deadly raids into Palestinian areas. Since the start of 2023, Israeli has killed more than 150 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

At least 26 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks during that time.

Israel claims its almost-nightly raids across the West Bank are essential to dismantle armed resistance networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the violence as a natural response to over 70 years of ethnic cleansing and occupation, including stepped-up settlement construction by Israel's government and increased violence by Jewish settlers.

Israel captured the occupied West Bank in the 1967 war, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.