Israeli guard succumbs to injuries in West Bank hammer attack

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli security guard succumbed to injuries sustained earlier on Sunday after being struck on the head with a hammer near the Kdumim settlement, adjacent to the city of Qalqilya, northern West Bank.

Israeli public broadcaster said a Palestinian worker, who remain at large, hit the security guard.

Security forces are continuing a search operation for the attacker, who took the security guard's weapon and fled in an Israeli vehicle, the broadcaster added.

Earlier, the Israeli army said a Palestinian assaulted an Israeli and stole his weapon in Bar-On industrial area.

Israeli news portal Walla said the slain was an illegal settler, around 40 years old.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul