Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank flashpoint city of Jenin yesterday, in what the army called its latest raid following a series of attacks in Israel since late March.
The army said that during the operation at Jenin’s refugee camp, troops used “live ammunition” after being targeted with gunfire and explosives by Palestinian fighters.
The Palestinian health ministry identified the man killed as Ahmad Massad, 18, from Burqin village in the north of the occupied West Bank. He was shot in the head, a hospital official told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
The army said 12 people were arrested in the overnight raids at several West Bank locations. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club group put the number of arrests at 17.
More than a thousand people gathered for Massad’s funeral in Burqin, and masked gunmen fired volleys into the air as his body was taken from his family home.
A band with the logo of the Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad was wrapped around his forehead.
Israeli security forces have stepped up operations in recent weeks in the West Bank -- particularly around Jenin, where there are active fighters from several Palestinian groups.
Raad Hazem — who killed three Israelis in a shooting spree in a Tel Aviv nightlife district last month, before being shot dead after a massive man-hunt — hailed from Jenin’s refugee camp.  During the overnight operation, the army said it also delivered a demolition notice to Hazem’s family home.
The destruction of fighters’ homes is a common Israeli practice, and condemned by critics as an illegal form of collective punishment.
The Tel Aviv shooter’s father Fathi Hazem and brother Hamam are both wanted by Israel.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians are common in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Violence has intensified in the territory and in Israel.
The mounting violence since March 22 has killed 12 Israelis, including an Arab-Israeli police officer, and two Ukrainians in four separate attacks inside Israel. A total of 26 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, among them the perpetrators of the attacks and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.
Massad’s death follows that of another Palestinian killed on Tuesday, when Israeli forces stormed a West Bank refugee camp near Jericho.
Violent clashes have also rocked the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, sparking fears of another conflict after last year’s 11-day war between Israel and groups in the Gaza Strip.