the lawyer Mohammad Hassan Mohammad Assaf, 34, died after being shot in the chest by Israeli troops during an attack on the city of Nablusin the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Witnesses told AFP that Mr. Assaf was standing on the side of the road after delivering his nephews to school when he was hit by a bullet by Israeli soldiers.

Mohammad Assaf | is a fierce defender of his peoplerecalled the Commission for Resistance to Settlement and the Wall, an entity of the Palestinian Authority where he worked.

Later, Qusai Hamamra, a 16-year-old Palestinian teenager, was shot and killed in Husan, near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Palestinian health ministry and council said. The Israeli army claimed to have fired live ammunition at him after he threw a firebomb at soldiers.

According to the army, hundreds of people took to the streets after the death of Qousaï Hamamra, which has brought to 18 the number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the escalation of Palestinian-Israeli tensions.

Shortly afterwards, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported the death of Amer Elyan, hit by live ammunition in the chest pulled of the army of Israel, in a clash following the arrest of a man in the village of Silwad, near the city of Ramallah (center), which also left six injured. Elyan is 18 years old, according to residents.

The West Bank in turmoil

The Israeli army said Wednesday it had done so counter-terrorism operations in various sectors of the West Bank, the eruption in Beita (north) and Nablus was noticeable. When questioned by the AFP, the army did not say whether it fired directly or not at Mr. Assaf.

The army said its soldiers were in Nablus to protect the repair work on the alleged tomb of Joseph, the son of Patriarch Jacob, which was vandalized last week when it was targeted by troublemakers before firing.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also said on Sunday that he would not do so such an attack on a holy place would not be allowed to pass on the eve of Passover.

On Monday, two Israelis were shot and wounded after entering the Palestinian city of Nablus, one of whom told Israel’s Kan TV channel that he wanted to inspect Joseph’s tomb, a shrine.

This site was the scene of repeated clashes between Israelis and Palestinians and was partially destroyed during the second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, then burned in 2015. The Palestinian Authority considers that the this expanded site is the place where Sheikh Yussef Dweikat, a local Muslim figure, was buried two centuries ago.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, a total of 31 people were injured on Wednesday in the Nablus area and in nearby villages. Of these, 10 were wounded by live ammunition.

These military operations come after four attacks carried out in Israel since March 22, the first two by Arab Israelis associated with the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) and the last two were by Palestinians from in the Jenin area, north of the West. Banks.

These anti-Israeli attacks left 14 dead while 18 Palestinians, including the attackers, were killed, according to an AFP tally.