On Monday, Israeli soldiers fatally shot a Palestinian worker in the ar-Ram town, north of the occupied Palestinian capital, Jerusalem, in the occupied West bank.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers opened fire at several Palestinian workers trying to enter occupied Jerusalem through a gap in a section of the illegal Annexation Wall.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its medics retrieved the body of the slain Palestinian worker in the Dahia area of Jerusalem.
The slain Palestinian has been identified as Sanad Najeh Hantouli, 25, from Silet ath-Thaher town, south of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank’s northern part.
Israeli sources said Border Police officers shot the Palestinian while attempting to cross through a breach in the Annexation Wall near Atarot, north of Jerusalem.
They claimed that the gap the Palestinian was attempting to go through was the same one used in a deadly attack last week that left six Israelis dead.
Thousands of Palestinian workers use these gaps in the illegal Annexation Wall across the West Bank seeking work and medical treatment in Jerusalem and other parts of the country.
This year alone, the Israeli army killed four Palestinian workers, including Sanad. On May 27, Arafat Qadous from the village of Iraq Burin, southwest of Nablus, died after falling from the Annexation Wall in the town of ar-Ram, after the soldiers chased the workers.
On March 15, 59-year-old Maher Sarsour from the village of Sarta near Salfit died following a pursuit by Israeli forces targeting a group of workers in the same area.
Just days before, on March 12, Rafat Hammad, 35, from Silwad east of Ramallah, died after falling from a height during an Israeli military invasion on a construction site in occupied Jerusalem where he was employed.
Israeli authorities continue to prohibit most West Bank residents from entering Jerusalem without permits and regularly pursue those who attempt to cross without authorization.
Since October 7, 2023, thousands of Palestinians holding West Bank IDs have been detained for allegedly entering Jerusalem without official documentation.
These incidents underscore the growing toll of Israel’s restrictive access policies, which have left many Palestinian workers facing life-threatening conditions in their pursuit of livelihood.
In an official statement, the Palestinian Labor Struggle Union has condemned the killing of young worker and described the incident as part of a broader pattern of systemic violations against Palestinian laborers, who are routinely denied their basic human rights to employment and dignity.
The union held Israeli authorities fully responsible for Hantouli’s death, accusing them of enforcing discriminatory policies that trap Palestinian workers between the pressures of unemployment and blockade on one side, and the risk of death at military roadblocks and along the Annexation Wall barrier on the other.
The statement called on the international community to assume its moral and legal responsibilities by pressuring Israel to halt its abuses against Palestinian workers and to safeguard their right to a dignified life.
On Saturday evening, a seriously wounded Palestinian young man, Mohammad Issa Alawi, 20, died of his injuries suffered a day earlier after he was shot by illegal Israeli colonizers in the village of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.
Since the beginning of this year, 205 Palestinians, including 39 children and 4 women, have been killed by Israeli fire, among them 9 who were killed by illegal paramilitary colonizers.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli soldiers and paramilitary colonizers have killed 1,040 Palestinians in the West Bank; 293 in Jenin, 213 in Tulkarem, 129 in Nablus, 94 in Tubas, 93 in Hebron, 73 in Ramallah, 58 in Jerusalem, 37 in Qalqilia, 30 in Bethlehem, 13 in Jericho, and 7 in Salfit. Among the slain Palestinians are 212 children, 22 women, 17 elders, 2 medics, and one journalist.
