Israeli Forces Kill Young Palestinian Man in Occupied West Bank

Israeli forces shot and killed 27-year-old Ahmad Erekat, the nephew of Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Saeb Erekat, Tuesday at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

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"Ahmed Erekat, 27, beautiful young man. A son. A brother. Fiancee. My baby cousin," Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney based in the United States wrote on Twitter, sharing his photos.

"Israeli cowards shot him multiple times, left him to bleed for 1.5 hours, and blamed him for his death. Tonight was his sister's wedding, his was next month. We failed to protect him. I am so sorry," she wrote.

The director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Bethlehem confirmed that a soldier prevented Palestinian medical personnel from approaching the man who was left to bleed, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said police shot the man because it suspected him of attempting to run over a female officer at a checkpoint in the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem.

Palestinian officials rejected the account while Saeb dismissed the police allegation as "impossible.”

"This young man was killed in cold blood," Saeb said. "What the occupation army claims, that he was trying to run someone over, is a lie," he added, saying that he held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for "this crime."

Police did not immediately release a video of the incident, and there was no way to independently verify the account. But it released a photo that appeared to show the vehicle after it had collided into the checkpoint.

Palestinians and human rights groups have accused Israeli security forces of using excessive force, or in some cases opening fire at cars that merely lost control.

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi called on the international community to take "concrete steps" against Israel over the death of Ahmad Erakat.

"Palestinian lives matter," she wrote in a statement, recalling last month's police killing of an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem.

"It is time for the world to hold Israel to account and ensure that justice is done by Palestinian victims."

Tuesday's incident came as the Israeli government says it is advancing plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in line with the Trump administration's Mideast plan as early as July 1st.

The Israeli annexation proposal has outraged the Palestinian leadership and drawn condemnation from much of the international community.