Israeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinian charging West Bank guard post

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(JTA) – Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man who ran toward their guard post in the West Bank and ignored warnings, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The man who was killed Friday — identified by the Palestinian news agency Maan as 38-year-old Iyad Zakariya Hamed, a father of three from the Ramallah area — was not armed, according to several Israeli media outlets.

But according to the IDF, he ignored calls to halt his rapid advance on foot toward the guard post near the settlement of Ofra, as well as warning shots fired in the air and later in his direction, before the soldiers aimed at his body as per IDF rules of engagement.

Terrorist attacks on Israelis in June remained relatively low in volume but resulted in the highest number of fatalities since January.

Five people died as victims of such terrorist attacks in June, the Shin Bet Israeli security agency wrote in its monthly report on June, which was published last month. In total, 103 such attacks were documented, compared to 101 in May — the lowest figure on record since March 2015.

The fatalities were the result of two attacks – a shooting in Tel Aviv’s Sarona compound, in which four Israelis were killed, and the murder of a 13-year-old girl, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, in her home near Hebron.

The attacks last month resulted in 21 injuries to victims, including one serious injury.

The report for June also listed an attack attributed to Jewish terrorists, in which two cars were set on fire near the predominantly Arab city of Nazareth in the Galilee, and three others were spray-painted with hate speech, including: “We will murder you.”

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