A young Palestinian man has succumbed to the wounds he suffered days earlier after dozens of Israeli military forces engaged in confrontations with a group of Palestinian demonstrators in the northern part of the occupied West Bank and fired live rounds to suppress the protest.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing medical sources, reported that 23-year-old Ahmad Hikmat Saif, died of his serious injuries early on Wednesday.
Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli troops shot the young man with three live rounds in his chest and abdomen last week during skirmishes that erupted when the forces stormed the village of Burqa, located 10.7 kilometers (6.6 miles) northwest of Nablus.
Saif underwent several surgeries and remained in a critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit in a hospital in Nablus until he passed away.
🔵 متابعة صفا| مصادر محلية: ارتقاء الشاب أحمد حكمت سيف (23 عامًا) من قرية برقة بنابلس متأثرًا بجراحه التي أصيب بها قبل أيام خلال مواجهات مع قوات الاحتلال pic.twitter.com/3Y3LyW7Jjf
— وكالة صفا (@SafaPs) March 9, 2022
Medical director of the An-Najah National University Hospital in Nablus, Dr. Abdul-Karim Barqawi, said the young Palestinian man suffered severe bleeding as one of the bullets had severed a main artery. He required intensive treatment because bullets had seriously damaged his internal organs.
The incident comes less than two days after Israeli forces shot dead a young Palestinian man after he allegedly stabbed two officers in the Old City of occupied al-Quds.
Wafa reported that the incident took place at Bab al-Qataneen neighborhood on Monday evening.
Footage from the scene showed the officers standing over the man, identified as Abdul Rahman Qasim, who appears to be lying on the ground shortly after the attack.
One of the officers opens fire, then stands on top of the alleged attacker, while shouting obscenities.
Earlier in the day, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the killing of a young Palestinian man over an alleged stabbing attack in the Old City of occupied al-Quds, saying the Tel Aviv regime continues to escalate its repressive measures and attacks across the occupied territories through field execution of youths.
“Israel continues to intensify its aggression in large parts of our land, taking advantage of the international community's preoccupation with the ongoing Ukraine conflict,” Shtayyeh said at a weekly cabinet meeting in the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
He warned of “the dangerous repercussions of the escalation of killings and field executions committed by the Israeli forces in the Palestinian territories.”