By Said Amori
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - An Israeli army officer succumbed to his injuries on Friday during an exchange of fire with a Palestinian fighter near the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, the Israeli army announced on Saturday.
At least one Israeli settler was seriously injured on Friday in a shooting near the Dolev settlement in the West Bank after a Palestinian fighter opened fire on a small bus. Israeli forces then exchanged fire with the assailant, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
The Hamas movement mourned the perpetrator of the attack, stating that he was “Barkat Mansour from the village of Deir Ibzi, near Ramallah.”
Hamas considered the attack a “natural response to the continuation of Israeli crimes and massacres in the Gaza Strip.”
The army stated in a press release the officer was killed during an exchange of fire with the gunman on Friday west of Ramallah.
Additionally, seven military personnel, including officers and soldiers, were reported injured, two of them in serious condition.
The Israeli army death toll in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the events of Oct. 7 last year reached 594, including 251 killed since the start of the ground operation on Oct. 27.
Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.
More than 32,100 Palestinians have since been killed and over 72,400 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala