JERUSALEM: An Israeli officer shot dead a Palest­inian man in the occupied West Bank who the army claimed had rammed his vehicle into a soldier, then got out of the vehicle to attack him with an axe.

CCTV video appeared to support the army’s account of the incident at a checkpoint near the city of Modiin on Wednesday.

The officer, who fired at the Palestinian after being knocked to the ground by the vehicle, was seriously wounded, the army said.

Palestinian officials said they were informed by the Israeli liaison office that a 54-year-old Palestinian had been killed.

The incident, a day after an election that looked set to return former right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power, follows months of tensions in the West Bank with repeated clashes and raids by security forces.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israel would continue to “initiate operations to prevent terror incidents”.

CCTV video of Wedne­sday’s incident, which was circulated on social media, shows a van ramming a soldier against a checkpoint guard booth. The driver gets out of the vehicle and makes stabbing motions over the soldier lying on the ground, who raises a rifle. The driver then collapses.

In a previous incident on Sunday, a Palestinian was shot dead after he carried out a car-ramming attack against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, one of the territories which Palesti­nians hope will eventually form an independent state.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2022