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In a statement, the military said a man arrived in a stolen
vehicle at the Rantis checkpoint. During an inspection of the
vehicle, it said, the driver assaulted one of the soldiers and
tried to snatch his weapon, leading another soldier to shoot at
the suspect, killing him.
The statement said the military was reviewing the circumstances
of the incident, in which one of the soldiers was lightly
injured and taken to hospital for further treatment.
The Palestinian health ministry, which is based in Ramallah,
identified the Palestinian man as 29-year-old Mahdi Biadsa.
A spokesperson for Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the
Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, said the incident showed that
"resistance in the West Bank is ready and able to confront the
crimes of the occupation", though Hamas did not claim
responsibility.
Violence in the West Bank, among territories Israel occupied in
the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians want as the core
of an independent state, has risen sharply during the past year.
Israel has intensified its military raids amid a spate of deadly
street attacks by Palestinians in Israeli cities.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least 158 Palestinians
in the West Bank, where Palestinians exercise limited self-rule,
and Gaza have been killed by Israel since January. Israel's
foreign ministry said 20 Israelis and two foreign nationals have
been killed by Palestinians in the same period.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Henriette Chacar; editing by Mark
Heinrich)
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