RAMALLAH: Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to cross Israel’s security barrier from the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said on Sunday.

Israel’s military said soldiers identified near the city of Qalqilya a suspect damaging the security fence and trying to cross into Israel. The soldiers opened fire, it said, adding that the incident was still being looked into.

Israel constructed its barrier along the West Bank frontier at the height of a Palestinian uprising as a way to stop suicide bombers from penetrating the country. Palestinians call it a land grab.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Sunday’s shooting was a “field execution.”

Every day around 165,000 Palestinians cross with permits into Israel for work, according to the Palestinian workers union, but each week thousands of others cross illegally, often avoiding checkpoints through gaps in the security fence.

Reuters