Israeli shot dead at entrance to West Bank settlement

An Israeli civilian was shot dead Tuesday at the entrance to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, medics and military officials said.

The unidentified man was taken to Hillel Yaffe hospital in Israel after being shot by the Hermesh settlement in the northern West Bank.

"The wounded person arrived in critical condition and we had to pronounce his death, despite the efforts of medical personnel," a statement from the hospital said.

The Shomron Regional Council, the Israeli body which administers settlements in the area, said the man shot was a resident of Hermesh.

Hundreds of Israeli settlements have been built in the occupied West Bank, on confiscated land, since 1967. An estimated 600,000 Israelis live in settlements there and in East Jerusalem in violation of international law.

The settlements are seen as a major obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

The Israeli military said troops "began pursuing the terrorists" behind the shooting at the settlement entrance, without identifying the alleged assailants.

BREAKING: The Israeli occupying army blocks the main entrance to the town of Qaffin, north of the occupied West Bank, in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli settler in a drive-by shooting earlier today outside the adjacent Israeli settlement of Hermesh. pic.twitter.com/gFNlOLfptA

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 30, 2023

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed wing affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, said "our soldiers" were behind the attack.

"On the road to Hermesh settlement, they opened fire towards a vehicle which was carrying a settler," the militant group said in a statement.

The office of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said he would "hold a situation assessment together with senior officials in the defence establishment" following the shooting.

The latest death comes amid ongoing deadly Israeli raids on Palestinian towns and cities which have left hundreds of people killed and wounded.

Since the start of the year, at least 155 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.