Palestinian dies after shooting by Israel forces

A Palestinian man shot by Israeli forces during a raid this week in the occupied West Bank died on Saturday, the official Palestinian news agency and a health worker said.

Mohammed Abu Asaab was "seriously injured in the head" on Wednesday in Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and on Saturday succumbed to his wounds, news agency Wafa reported.

It said Abu Asaab was hit during clashes that erupted when Israeli "undercover forces" surrounded a house in the camp.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.

An official at Al Najah hospital in Nablus, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told AFP that Abu Asaab, a resident of Balata, had died "as a result of wounds sustained at dawn last Wednesday during the occupation (Israeli) forces' storming of the camp".

An AFP correspondent in Nablus said Abu Asaab's death was also announced over mosque loudspeakers throughout the city.

His death brought to 218 the number of Palestinians killed in violence this year linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Some 28 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have also been killed, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on both sides.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967 and its forces regularly carry out incursions into areas such as Nablus which are nominally under Palestinian Authority security control.