Palestinian killed at checkpoint

Israeli soldiers have secured the area near Jenin where Salem Samoudi was killed.

An armed Palestinian man has been shot dead at a military post in the northern West Bank in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers.

The shooting took place near the settlement of Mevo Dotan, south of Jenin.

“A man fired at an army post with an automatic rifle. The soldiers at the post returned fire and killed him,” an Israeli military spokeswoman stated.

The dead man was identified as Salem Samudi, 24, from a nearby village.

A local witness said he was a friend of another Palestinian man, Khaldun Samudi, shot dead by Israeli troops at a checkpoint near Nablus on 8 January.

Soldiers also shot and killed a 21-year-old Palestinian man at the Nablus checkpoint on 1 January.

In a separate development, an Israeli military official has confirmed to the BBC that IDF investigations suggest a woman who died after a Palestinian protest was killed by an overdose of a medical drug and not tear gas as was reported.

The source said that hospital records had been obtained from the Palestinians and that a full report would be published in the coming days.

Initial findings were leaked to the Israeli media.

Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, 36, took part in a weekly demonstration against Israel’s separation barrier in Bilin on 31 December when soldiers used tear gas to disperse the crowd. She died the next day.

A doctor who treated Ms Abu Rahmeh denied that records were handed over to the Israelis and that his patient died from a medical error.

The scene of the killing of Amr Qawasme

He said she was given standard drugs after she arrived at the hospital unable to breath and that the cause of her death was heart failure.

Responding to the latest claims, the Palestinian Authority said it deplored “the continuing Israeli campaign to blame others”.

The Authority also criticised as “unacceptable” a statement from the Israeli military announcing that the soldier who shot and killed a Palestinian civilian in his home in Hebron would not be discharged.

An investigation by the Israeli military found that only a second officer who fired after the man was dead had acted “unprofessionally”. It said he has had his military career “terminated”.

Amr Qawasme, 65, was killed in his bed in a raid on 7 January.

Soldiers looking for a Hamas activist released from Palestinian custody the day before entered his apartment by mistake.

The IDF has stated that it “deeply regrets” the death of Mr Qawasmi.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.

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