Israeli police kill Palestinian, accuse him of ‘attack’

Israeli police have shot dead a Palestinian citizen of Israel in the central city of Kafr Qasim in an incident that also left at least three police officers injured, authorities and medics said.

Family members of the man killed on Friday were quoted by the Palestinian Arab 48 website as denying police allegations that the man had been attempting to attack the officers.

Israeli police said its officers had been lured into an ambush in Kafr Qasim, a Palestinian city in Israel 19km (12 miles) northeast of Tel Aviv and just outside the occupied West Bank.

The police alleged that its officers were responding to a false report of a violent incident, where a man attempted to open fire on them, before later ramming a car into some officers, leaving them lightly wounded.

Security camera footage released by Israeli police shows a man emerging out of a building and attempting to fire on what appears to be a police officer before a car later emerges and reverses towards a crowd of officers.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said that is when the police shot the man.

Soldiers and police said they found an automatic weapon, along with a knife and tear gas, at the scene.

Kafr Qasim is one of a number of Palestinian-majority population centres in Israel struggling with surging violent crime. Residents say they are abandoned by the Israeli government, leading to greater criminality and increased poverty.