Israeli forces kill Palestinian during West Bank raid

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli security forces on Monday shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab officers during a raid in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police said.

The Israeli forces were searching for weapons in a house in the town of Kafr Aqab when the suspect, Muhammad Al-Shaham, attacked officers with a knife, a police statement said. It said the officers responded by shooting Al-Shaham, who died of his wounds.

The suspect’s father, Ibrahim, said his son had been unarmed and called his killing an execution. The Israeli officers entered the house, he said, and “immediately began shooting, and they shot my son in the head.”

Senior Palestinian official Hussein Al Sheikh called for an international investigation.

Israel frequently conducts raids in the West Bank to detain suspected militants or confiscate weapons.

Monday’s violence came a day after a Palestinian gunman wounded at least eight people aboard a bus carrying Jewish worshippers in the Old City of Jerusalem.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Ari Rabinovitch, editing by Mark Heinrich)