Palestinian killed near Nablus as West Bank death toll reaches seven

A Palestinian man was killed following fighting with Israeli forces after he carried out a shooting attack on a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

Ahmed Awawdeh's death brings the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank to seven since yesterday, when militant group Hamas broke out of besieged Gaza to launch an unprecedented operation into Israeli territory.

An armed confrontation erupted between three Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers at the Deir Sharaf checkpoint west of Nablus, leading to Awawdeh being shot in the head, local sources told The New Arab's Arabic sister service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

He died before reaching hospital.

The Jenin Battalion, affiliated with the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad faction, mourned Awawdeh, who is from the city of Hebron.

The sources said Awawdeh carried out a shooting attack and wounded three Israeli soldiers in Hebron province in June.

After he became a wanted man, he moved to the Jenin refugee camp.

After announcing his death, members of the Jenin Battalion and camp residents went out on a symbolic march through the streets.

Separately, at the entrance to the town of Qabalan, south of Nablus, confrontations broke out, leading to a young Palestinian man being shot and arrested by Israeli forces.

The forces prevented an ambulance from approaching him and used a stun grenade.

Israeli forces also decided to close Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque until further notice, placing a paper on its main door stating that the second holiest Islamic place in Palestine was closed to Muslim worshippers.

The site was forcibly divided into Muslim and Jewish sides after a 1994 massacre carried out by a settler. It was unclear whether the Jewish part was also shut.

In the town of Abu Dis, in the West Bank but near Jerusalem, armed fighting broke out early on Sunday. A Palestinian was injured and arrested by Israeli forces.

Confrontations erupted in and around occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday evening and carried on until morning.

The fighting pitting Hamas and other Gaza militants against Israel has killed 313 in the coastal strip, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

The Israeli death toll was at least 350, American broadcaster CNN cited an Israeli official as saying.