Border Police killed an 18-year-old Palestinian whom they said threw a Molotov cocktail at officers during a riot in the West Bank town of Eizariya, just outside of Jerusalem on Saturday.
The body of Fayez Khaled Damdum was wrapped in a Palestinian flag and paraded through Eizariya on gunnery held aloft by mourners during his funeral.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Damdum drove by the riot on his motorcycle and was fatally hit in the neck by bullets shot by Border Police officers.
Border Police said he had “a Molotov cocktail in his hand and tried to throw it at our forces.”
Officers had entered Eizariya to search for suspects who had, in an unusual move, broken open a gate in the concrete security barrier in the nearby area of Abu Dis. Palestinians threw stones, Molotov cocktails and other explosive devices at the border police.
The clashes are part of growing unrest in the West Bank, which has claimed a high toll among Palestinians.According to the United Nations, more than 88 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year as of September 26. Last year, 78 Palestinians were killed in that same region, compared to 24 Palestinian fatalities in 2020.
Many of the Palestinians killed were involved in violent clashes with Israeli security forces or in terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
Seven-year-old boy dies of heart attack
On Thursday, in an unusual incident, a seven-year-old Palestinian boy, Rayan Yasser Sliman, died of heart failure after fleeing from IDF soldiers in the Palestinian town of Tuqu' in the Bethlehem area. He was buried on Friday.The Biden administration, the European Union and United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland have called for an investigation into his death.
The EU’s representative office to the Palestinians recalled that under intentional law “children enjoy special protection.”
Separately, firefighters in Judea and Samaria on Saturday afternoon battled to put out a blaze that burned between the Dolev and Talmon settlements in the Binyamin region.
The IDF said that the blaze was caused by burning tires set by Palestinians, with firefighters concluding that the fire was an act of arson.
Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz said that, “by any definition, this was a terror attack. Arab rioters tried to set fire to Jews and their communities.”
“We see an increase in our enemy’s boldness," Ganz said. "The minister of defense must order the IDF to act as if there were casualties here so that the Arabs of the region get a clear message."
This year to date, 18 civilians have been killed in Palestinian terrorist attacks.