Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian near Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday who they had suspected was carrying a weapon but turned out to be unarmed.
The police say he was carrying “a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and ran away when ordered to stop. The police say they chased him on foot and opened fire.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld later said that no gun was found in the area.
Israeli police officers secure the area of Lion's gate in Jerusalem's Old City, Saturday, May 30, 2020. Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian near Jerusalem's Old City who they had suspected was carrying a weapon but turned out to be unarmed. (AP PhotoMahmoud Illean)
A relative of the deceased identified him as Iyad Halak, 32. The relative said Halak was mentally disabled and was heading to a nearby school for people with special needs. The relative spoke on condition of anonymity because of privacy concerns.
The shooting came a day after Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank who they said had tried to ram them with his vehicle. No Israelis were wounded in either incident.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks as Israel has pressed ahead with plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank in line with President Donald Trump's Middle East plan, which strongly favors Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority said last week that it was no longer bound by past agreements with Israel and the United States and was cutting off all ties, including longstanding security coordination.
Lone Palestinian attackers with no clear links to armed groups have carried out a series of stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks in recent years. The PA is not allowed to operate in east Jerusalem or the areas in the West Bank where most attacks have occurred.
Rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force in some cases, either by killing individuals who could have been arrested or using lethal force when their lives were not in danger.
Saturday's shooting occurred in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 war along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
The Trump plan would allow the Palestinians to establish a capital on the outskirts of the city, beyond Israel's separation barrier. It would grant them limited statehood in a cluster of enclaves surrounded by Israel, but only if they meet a long list of stringent conditions.
Israeli police and Palestinian youths clashed again at a major Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims on Friday despite a temporary halt to Jewish visits to the site, which are seen as a provocation by the Palestinians.
Palestinians and Israeli police have regularly clashed at the site for the last week at a time of heightened tensions in the region following a string of deadly attacks inside Israel and arrest raids in the occupied West Bank. Three rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
Palestinian youths hurled stones toward police at a gate leading into the compound, according to two Palestinian witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns. The police, in full riot gear, then entered the compound, firing rubber bullets and stun grenades.
Israeli police clash with Palestinian protesters at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP PhotoMahmoud Illean)
The Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said nine Palestinians were wounded, two of them seriously.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City is the third holiest site in Islam. The sprawling esplanade on which it is built is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of two Jewish temples in antiquity. It lies at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and clashes there have often ignited violence elsewhere.
Tens of thousands of Muslim worshippers are expected at the site later in the day for the main weekly prayers.
Israeli police move behind riot shields during clashes with Palestinian protesters at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP PhotoMahmoud Illean)
Palestinians and neighboring Jordan, the custodian of the site, accuse Israel of violating longstanding arrangements by allowing increasingly large numbers of Jews to visit the site under police escort.
A longstanding prohibition on Jews praying at the site has eroded in recent years, fueling fears among Palestinians that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.
Israel says it remains committed to the status quo and blames the violence on incitement by the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza. It says its security forces are acting to thwart rock-throwers in order to ensure freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims.
Visits by Jewish groups were halted beginning Friday for the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as they have been in the past.
This year, the fasting month coincided with the Jewish Passover and major Christian holidays, with tens of thousands of people from all three faiths flocking to the Old City after the lifting of most coronavirus restrictions.
