RAMALLAH 20 Mar (ANA) - Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in two separate incidents on Tuesday night, Palestinian health ministry and emergency services said.

 

Omar Abu Leila, 19, was suspected of carrying out a deadly stabbing-and-shooting attack in the occupied West Bank two days earlier.

 

Abu Leila, who was on the run, was found in a house in the village of Abwein, north of Ramallah. He was killed after he opened fire at Israeli forces who had come to arrest him, the Israeli Shin Bet security service said. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed a person had been killed in the clash, but provided no further details.

 

Protests in the village then broke out between Palestinian youth and the army. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, nine men were injured, including two with live ammunition. 

 

In a separate incident, the Palestinian health ministry said two more Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

 

Raed Hamdan, 21, and Zaid Nouri, 20, died after being shot late Tuesday by Israeli troops near the Joseph Tomb's religious site close to the Palestinian city of Nablus, it said.

 

According to the spokesperson for the Red Crescent, Ahmad Jibril, Israeli forces prevented emergency services from reaching the site, and fired on an ambulance. 

 

The Israeli army said in a statement explosives were hurled from a vehicle as Jewish worshippers visited the site late on Tuesday and "troops responded with live fire towards the vehicle".

 

The bodies of Hamdan and Nouri were detained by Israeli forces overnight before they were handed over to the Palestinian Authority coordination body in the morning.

 

Joseph's Tomb has long been a source of tension in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. According to Palestinian security sources, more than 1,000 Jewish settlers were bused to the site, under heavy Israeli army protection.(ANA)

FA/ANA/20 March 2019---------