Israeli security forces fatally shot a Palestinian civilian on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The ministry did not give any details about the victim, but said “a civilian was killed by Israeli forces” after being shot in the neck in Kafal Harres, a village south of Nablus and near the city of Salfit.

The Salfit provincial governor, Abdullah Kamil, identified the victim as 29-year-old Ibrahim Mustafa Abu Yaacoub.

After being shot, Yaacoub was taken to the Salfit government hospital, where he was declared dead.

The Israeli military said it responded with fire as “two assailants were throwing Molotov cocktails”.

Kamil, however, said that Yaacoub was simply out walking with his friends when he was shot.

The killing of Yaacoub follows a number of shooting deaths by Israeli forces, including that of 32-year-old Iyad al-Halak, an autistic Palestinian man who also slain by Israeli police.

Ahmad Erekat, another Palestinian civilian, was shot and killed by Israeli security forces on his way to pick up his mother and sister for a wedding later that day.

Palestinians have drawn comparisons between Halak’s death and that of African American George Floyd, after a police officer in Minneapolis pressed a knee into Floyd’s neck while detaining him on 25 May, just a few days before Halak’s death at the hands of Israeli police.

Palestinians have long accused the country of carrying out superficial investigations into crimes committed by Israeli forces or settlers against Palestinians. Israelis are rarely tried for killing Palestinians, and if found guilty, typically receive lenient sentences.

In response to the killing, Kamil called for unity and solidarity against Israel’s plans for occupation.

“This is another despicable crime in the chain of crimes that occupation forces are committing against our people everywhere,” Kamil said, as reported by the Palestinian Quds News Network.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has missed his self-imposed 1 July deadline to begin annexing parts of the occupied West Bank, as talks with the US have yet to yield results.

Last week, Netanyahu’s coalition partner Benny Gantz told a US envoy that annexation would have to wait while the country deals with a surge in coronavirus cases.

Source: Middle East Eye