Palestinian Killed by Israeli Fire in West Bank

A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank late Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry announced.

The man was shot near Nilin west of Ramallah in the West Bank, the ministry said.

The Israeli army said he had been throwing stones at Israeli cars driving on a nearby road.

"Troops fired towards the suspects after they hurled a rock and were preparing to hurl additional rocks," an Israeli military statement said.

"According to currently available information, one of the suspects was killed by the fire and another was injured and escaped," it added.

Local residents identified the man as Sufian al-Khawaja.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the Israeli army had prevented an ambulance from taking him to a hospital.

The Palestinian government announced earlier Sunday it had imposed a two-week ban on non-essential movement in the West Bank in a bid to curb an outbreak of the novel coronavirus.