Israeli police kill Palestinian in Jerusalem fleeing with ‘suspicious object’

Israeli police shot a Palestinian suspected of carrying a weapon who turned out not to be armed.

By Associated Press

Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian near Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday who they had suspected was carrying a weapon but turned out to be unarmed.

The suspect was carrying “a suspicious object that looked like a pistol” and ran away when ordered to stop, said the police, which chased the man on foot and opened fire.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld later said that no gun was found in the area.

A relative of the deceased identified him as Iyad Halak, 32. The relative said Halak was mentally disabled and was heading to a nearby school for people with special needs. The relative spoke on condition of anonymity because of privacy concerns.

The shooting came a day after Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian during an attempted car-ramming attack in Samaria. No Israelis were wounded in either incident.

Palestinian terrorists have ramped up attacks in recent weeks as Israel moves forward with plans to annex Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria in line with President Donald Trump’s Middle East plan.

The Palestinian Authority claimed last week that it was no longer bound by past agreements with Israel and the United States and was cutting off all ties, including longstanding security coordination.

Palestinian terrorists have carried out a series of stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks on Israeli civilians in recent years, with an unborn child and a 17-year-old teenager among their victims last year.