IDF kills Palestinian near Shvut Rahel

Army investigating the shooting of a teen and subsequent failure to airlift him.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
IDF soldiers deployed south-east of Shvut Rahel, near El Muair in the Binyamin District, shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian youth in his chest after he and a companion repeatedly ignored soldiers' warnings to halt their actions. The army summoned a helicopter to transport the youth to a hospital, but he died before arrival. The military said on Tuesday morning that it was investigating the incident. Troops spotted two Palestinian youths placing a suspicious package on the road and called on the two to cease their activity. When they ignored the calls, soldiers fired warning shots in the air. The youths still ignored the soldiers' warnings, and the soldiers shot at the two. The IDF confirmed wounding one Palestinian, while the second succeeded in fleeing the scene. Meanwhile, Israeli security officials said they were skeptical over reports that Palestinian Authority security officials had uncovered a 150 meter tunnel near the Karni crossing in northern Gaza. On Monday, media reports claimed that the Palestinians had uncovered the tunnel on Sunday, and had found confiscated tools inside it. The reports claimed that the well lit tunnel came within meters of the Israeli side, and seven digging tools had been confiscated. "We need to see it with our own eyes, and make sure the tunnel is sealed off and destroyed," a security official said. If the reports are proven true and the crossing is no longer under threat, then it will be reopened for business, the official added. Last week, the crossing which is considered the main entry and exit points for goods marketed to and from Gaza, was shut down due to pinpointed warnings that terrorists planned to attack the site and target those deployed on the Israeli side. Offers by Israel to use alternative entry points into Gaza in order to transfer the goods were refused by the PA, security officials said on Monday. The alternative entry points included the Sufa crossing and the Kerem Shalom crossing, the officials said. Had the Palestinians agreed, it would have prevented tons of food stuff from spoiling and going to waste, the officials said. Since shutting down the crossing last week, IDF bulldozers on the Israeli side searched for the evidence of a tunnel, but to no avail. On the Palestinian side, several unsuccessful attempts were also made, Israeli security officials said. "They would inform us that they had found a tunnel, and then later retract and claim they had made a mistake and that they had found a sewerage canal or something," one Israeli official said. In violence during the day, an IDF soldier was lightly wounded in the leg by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire at troops deployed near Jenin in northern Samaria. In the early morning hours, security forces arrested 24 Palestinian fugitives affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in operations launched in Tulkarm, Kalkilya, Silat A Hartiya northwest of Jenin, villages east, southwest and northwest of Ramallah, west of Bethlehem and northwest of Hebron.