RAMALLAH (AFP) – A Palestinian man has been killed during ongoing clashes between Palestinian fighters and Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
Local media identified the man as 53-year-old Firas Yaeesh. His death was announced at dawn on Tuesday.
Witnesses, as well as local journalists, have said that Yaeesh was killed by PA police fire, but this has not yet been confirmed.
“Armed men had been shooting at the Nablus police center, then the police began shooting indiscriminately – a bullet from the police hit him and killed him in front of his home,” Nablus-based journalist Hazem Nasser told Al Jazeera, citing witnesses.
An autopsy will be conducted later.
The spokesperson for the PA’s security services, Talal Dweikat, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon that “the death of citizen Firas Yaeesh came as a result of an injury, the nature of which has not yet been determined,” adding that they “are waiting for the medical report”.
Dweikat added that “no security personnel were present” at the scene where Yaeesh was killed, and said “there are testimonies of eyewitnesses who were in the area of the unfortunate accident confirming the authenticity of this story.”
Another Palestinian man Anas Abdelfattah, who is said to be a student at An-Najah National University in Nablus, sustained serious wounds from a bullet to the stomach and is in a critical condition.
Clashes and confrontations unfolded in Nablus shortly after midnight following the PA’s arrest of two Palestinian fighters, including 30-year-old Musab Shtayyeh.
Shtayyeh is a commander with the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Gaza-based Hamas’s resistance movement.
The other fighter was identified as Ameed Tbaileh.
Clashes were still ongoing at midday on Tuesday, with live ammunition being fired by both sides.
Young people have also hurled rocks, while PA forces have launched tear gas at crowds.