Palestinian man killed by Israeli settler near 1948 village, near Nazareth

A Palestinian man was shot and killed by an Israeli settler on Saturday near the Arab village of Sandala, south of the city of Nazareth within Israel's 1948 borders, according to local sources.

Twenty-year-old Diyar Omari was killed after the settler engaged in a physical altercation with him, in footage shared online. The Israeli then proceeded to pull a gun before firing multiple shots at him as the young Palestinian man returned to his car.

Israeli police arrested the perpetrator shortly after, who was identified as a 32-year-old resident of the settlement of Gan Ner, north of Israel, according to the Israeli website Yedioth Ahronoth.

An investigation is said to be opened into the incident, the official Palestinian official news agency Wafa said.

لحظة إطلاق مستوطن النار على الشاب ديار عمري وقتله قرب قرية صندلة بالداخل الفلسطيني المحتل pic.twitter.com/dM0QllHgyy

— القسطل الاخباري | القدس (@AlQastalps) May 6, 2023

The Palestinian victim's family, devastated by his death, said in a statement: "The Omari family mourns in Sandala and throughout Palestine, inside the homeland and abroad, to our Palestinian people, the young martyr Diyar Omari, who was shot dead by an Israeli terrorist settler in cold blood".

 "We welcome our people to participate in the martyr’s funeral, on Sunday, after Asr prayer," they added.

Hundreds of Palestinians protested near the Israeli settlement, condemning the killing of Omari, which they called a "cold-blooded execution".

Scores of other Palestinians also demonstrated in his home village of Sandala, where a general strike was declared on Sunday, according to The New Arab's Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Israeli police responded by firing stun grenades and arresting at least four Palestinian protesters.

The Committee for Freedoms in the Palestinian Interior described Omari’s killing as "a dangerous indication of the Israeli establishment", which is currently headed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s extreme far-right cabinet.

"The [Israeli] government has taken a strategic decision to spill our blood just because we are Palestinian Arabs, especially after it opened the door wide for its settlers to take up arms under the pretext of self-defence".

The committee further stressed that it held the Netanyahu government - the most far-right in the country’s 75-year history - accountable for Omari's death.

Palestinians in Israel - and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem - are often the target of harassment, intimidation and violence from Israeli settlers.

Moreover, Palestinians make up 20% of the population of Israel, where they face systemic discrimination in several aspects of everyday life.