JERUSALEM - Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man in a West Bank village early Thursday, the third Palestinian killed by army fire in as many days.
The shootings marked the first Palestinian deaths by Israeli troops in almost a month and drew condemnation from Palestinian officials.
Citing a recent wave of firebombings in the roughly 10-mile area between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank, the army has been stepping up efforts to stop them, including laying nighttime ambushes near potential targets.
Before dawn Thursday, an army patrol spotted three men carrying firebombs in Kufr Malek, a village near Ramallah, the military said. Troops shot one man after the trio ignored warning shots, the army said.
The other two escaped.
Palestinian medics identified the dead man as Aziz Yousef, 21.
Nael Saleh Beirat, who witnessed the shooting, said troops moved into the village’s cemetery early
Thursday. He said troops opened fire after some young people on a rooftop threw rocks at army vehicles.
“The soldiers shot them from the cemetery. He was killed,” said Beirat, a 31-year-old merchant.
Also Thursday, a Palestinian man died in a Ramallah hospital a day after being shot by troops in the nearby Jelazoun refugee camp.
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