West Bank: Israel is investigating the murder of a volunteer paramedic

WEST BANK – The Israeli military has launched an investigation after a Palestinian volunteer paramedic was killed in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) said 50-year-old Mohammed Awad Allan was shot while treating people injured by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops have been sent to the village of As-Sawiya to end the clashes.

It confirmed that an ambulance driver had been killed and investigations were underway. The circumstances of the death are not clear.

In a statement on Sunday, the IDF said troops and Israeli Border Police forces were sent following reports of a “violent confrontation of mutual stone-hurling that took place between Palestinians and Israeli civilians in the area of ​​As-Sawiya.”

It added: “During the incident, an ambulance driver from the Palestinian Red Crescent was killed. The Military Police has opened an investigation.”

The PRCS said Allan was trying to treat people injured “by gunshots fired by Israeli settlers”.

Some Hebrew media reports said Allan was killed by Israeli forces fire; others reported that he had been shot by armed settlers.

According to PRCS, Allan was a volunteer with the Qaryut Ambulance Committee – an initiative to provide ambulance services to the residents of the area.

Separately, Palestinian officials said at least 14 people, including a boy and a gunman, were killed Saturday during an Israeli military operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said security forces had killed 10 people they said were terrorists and arrested eight others.

Violence in the West Bank has been increasing for months.

According to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, about 700,000 Israelis live in 160 settlements, along with 2.7 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Almost the entire international community considers the settlements illegal, although Israel disputes this.

There are also about 160 so-called outposts, or small settlements, that were built without official approval and are considered illegal under Israeli law.

Tensions were already high before October 7, when Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza. Since then, more than 460 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

These deaths also include armed fighters amid an increase in attacks by the Israeli army on Palestinian towns and villages.

During the same period, at least thirteen Israelis have been killed in the West Bank, including two members of the Israeli security forces.

Human rights groups say incidents of settler attacks and the alleged involvement of security forces are rarely fully investigated.

On April 16, the UN Human Rights Office called on Israeli security forces to end what they called their active participation and support of settler attacks in the West Bank. – BBC