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In
the latest in a near daily series of operations over the past
year, the Israeli military said that its forces were securing
the entrance of Israelis to Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city
of Nablus when Palestinians hurled explosive devices and fired
at them.
Soldiers returned fire and "hits were identified", the statement
said.
The incident occurred hours after Netanyahu announced he had
secured a coalition with religious and ultranationalist partners
who oppose Palestinian statehood and want to extend Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, to form what is set to be one of
the most right-wing governments in Israeli history.
The militant Hamas movement, which governs blockaded Gaza and
has some presence in the West Bank, claimed the man, identified
by the Palestinian health ministry as Ahmad Daraghmeh, as a
member.
Palestinian officials said Daraghmeh, a 23-year-old football
player from the city of Tubas near Nablus, was shot in the back
and leg.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh described the
killing as "a crime that is added to the occupation's track
record of crimes that target anyone who is Palestinian".
This year has seen the worst levels of violence in the West Bank
in more than a decade, much of it concentrated around Nablus and
the nearby city of Jenin, with at least 150 Palestinians and
more than 20 Israelis killed.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza - areas
that Palestinians seek for an independent state - in a 1967
Middle East war.
Ongoing violence and expanding Israeli settlements have
increased diplomatic stagnation since U.S.-brokered negotiations
collapsed in 2014.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi;
Editing by James Mackenzie, Kirsten Donovan)
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