Israeli forces kill Palestinian suspect in West Bank attack

Israeli forces on Tuesday shot dead a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli rabbi and a soldier in the occupied West Bank, the Shin Bet internal security service said.

Troops, police and security agents surrounded a building in the West Bank village of Abwein, north of Ramallah, in which the suspect was hiding according to a Shin Bet statement.

The suspect, Omar Amin Abu Laila, opened fire and was killed in the shootout, Shin Bet said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

All Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank are classed as illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which asserts that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".

Israeli forces and settlers routinely attack Palestinians in the occupied territories, demolishing their homes, poisoning their livestock and vandalising their properties.

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