Jewish settler kills 27-year-old Palestinian man in West Bank

A Jewish settler shot and killed a Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Palestinian officials said.

A number of Jewish settlers carrying pistols and one with a rifle approached the village of Qrawat Bani Hassan and one fired a shot killing 27-year-old Mothqal Rayyan, a Palestinian eye-witness told Reuters.

According to the witness, the Israeli military arrived but only protected the settlers.

The occupied West Bank has seen a spike in violence since Israel intensified raids last year in response to a series of street attacks in its cities. 

Violence in both the occupied West Bank and Israel has witnessed a sharp uptick, as least 45 Palestinians have been killed in violent Israeli raids in Jenin and other West Bank cities so far this year.

Last month, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in a raid in Jenin, including 61-year-old Majeda Obeid. A 10th Palestinian was killed in a separate incident in Al-Ram village.

Israeli settlements  in the West Bank are considered illegal by most of the international community, breaching the fourth Geneva convention that explicitly forbids an occupying power from transferring its civilian population to occupied territory.

The Israeli government, however, has actively encouraged settlement construction and considers only those settlement outposts constructed without its approval as illegal.