Palestinian killed in West Bank — ministry

TULKAREM, Palestinian Territories — Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian in a raid on a West Bank refugee camp, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday, as violence in the occupied territory shows no letup.

The ministry said 21-year-old Ayed Samih Khaled was "shot by live occupation [Israeli] bullets fired to the head" in the Nur Shams camp near the northern town of Tulkarem.

The Islamic Jihad group identified him as a member of its armed wing, the Al Quds Brigade.

The Israeli military said "an exchange of fire with a number of suspects took place" during the raid.

A camp resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said clashes erupted soon after the incursion started at around midnight (21:00 GMT Monday).

"The army had come with bulldozers to destroy some roads inside the camp," the resident told AFP.

The military said Israeli forces targeted a building which "contained several ready-to-use explosive devices" and a bomb went off during the raid.

Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces, an AFP photographer saw Palestinians gathering beside piles of rubble and gaping holes in a building.

The West Bank has been occupied by Israel since the June War of 1967 and its forces regularly carry out incursions into areas which are nominally under Palestinian control.

The latest deadly raid brings to 226 the number of Palestinians killed so far this year in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The recent surge in bloodshed has also seen 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.