TULKAREM: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in night-time clashes at a West Bank refugee camp, the Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday, as violence in the occupied territory shows no letup.

“Ayed Samih Khaled was shot by live occupation (Israeli) bullets fired to the head,” the ministry said.

The Israeli army did not offer any immediate comment.

Residents of Nur Shams camp near the town of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank said Israeli forces entered the camp around midnight (2100 GMT Monday).

“Soon after they entered the camp, clashes erupted between some militants and soldiers,” a resident told AFP on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“The army had come with bulldozers to destroy some roads inside the camp.”

A sports center in the camp was heavily damaged in the raid, an AFP journalist reported.

Violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged in the West Bank since early last year.

At least 226 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.

AFP