Palestinians say Israel troops killed protester in West Bank

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire during clashes Friday between protesters and Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The clashes erupted in the northern town of Beita, where residents hold weekly demonstrations against the expansion of an Israeli settlement outpost.

The Palestinian ministry identified the slain man as Mohammed Khebisa, 28. It said he was wounded in the head and died soon after arriving at a hospital in the nearby city of Nablus. Eight other protesters were injured by rubber-coated steel pellets and dozens suffered breathing difficulties from tear gas.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The residents say the expansion of the unauthorized Eviatar outpost threatens their farming land. Over the past months, the weekly protests have seen the death of at least six Palestinians.

Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank — occupied by Israel in the 1967 war and sought by the Palestinians for a future state — as illegal and an obstruction to peace.